Spring celebrations – Ramadan

Today is the first day of the a holiday observed by Muslim people called Ramadan. This holiday lasts one lunar month – which means it starts right after the new moon and goes until the next new moon. During this month, people observing the holiday will fast, which means they do not eat anything from dawn until dusk. The Arabic word for this time is sawm.

Because a lunar calendar follows the cycle of the moon, Ramadan falls on a different day each year. This year it happens during the spring, but each year it will get a little bit earlier so sometimes it will happen in the winter, fall or summer.

A new book we added to our library recently is called The Gift of Ramadan and it is a story of a young girl, Sophia, during the month of Ramadan as she practices fasting for the first time.

Spring Celebrations – Passover and Easter

On March 21st it was the vernal equinox, also known as the first day of spring! This is a day when the amount of daylight is equal to the amount of darkness.

There are a few different celebrations that happen around spring time. For people from the Jewish culture, it is a time when Passover is celebrated. Here is a short story about this holiday:

One thing I really like about this story, is that even though I don’t celebrate Passover, I can relate to the feelings of excitement in the story! Are there any things you notice in the story that are similar to things you do at home with your family around holidays you celebrate?

Another celebration that happens in Spring is Easter – which is the reason for the long weekend (4 days!) we have coming up. One of my favourite things to do around Easter is to dye eggs. Here’s a picture of some eggs I dyed a couple years back and saved as decorations:

 

I used natural substances to dye the eggs: turmeric for yellow, beets for pink, and purple cabbage for turquoise/blue (my favourite one, so cool!). Here is a video that has instructions for how you can dye eggs at home (it does require using the stove, so you would need help from an adult):

You can use hard boiled ones if you don’t want to keep them (and have a fun, colourful snack!) or you can blow out the inside so they will last longer (but this makes them very delicate!).

Are there any other special occasions you and your family celebrate in the spring time? I hope everyone has a joyful long weekend with your family!