Why learn about religious symbols? We come across a wide range of symbols in our everyday lives. Symbols play an important part in religion, expressing feelings and beliefs that are often hard to put into words. Working out and talking about the meaning of symbols helps you to think imaginatively and to explain religious ideas and practices

 

What will you learn about religious symbols? You will learn about clothing, food, colours and sounds which can have symbolic meaning. Many religious symbols are used in worship and are related to Holy texts. for example, to understand the meaning of palm crosses given out before the Christian festival of Easter, you need to know the Bible account of Jesus entering Jerusalem and to understand the symbolism of the Jewish Passover meal, you need to know how the Israelites escaped out of slavery in Egypt

 

Build a memory bank Put together a collection of souvenirs from trips and holidays, for example shells, postcards, feathers, stones, badges, stickers and photographs .Look through the collection and write labels for each to describe what different objects remind you of? Things you did? Places you visited? People you met?

What will you learn about religious festivals and celebrations? You will learn how people celebrate with special food, clothes, stories and music and about the religious beliefs behind festivals, for example the Christian festivals of Easter and Christmas. Reading Holy texts can help you understand more about the background to different festivals and celebrations for example why and how Jewish people celebrate the festival of Pesach ,the story of Ibrahim's test of faith behind the Muslim festival of Id-ul-Adha, the story Guru Gobind Singh and Khalsa behind the Sikh festival of Baisak and the birth and Enlightenment of the Buddha behind Wesak

Celebrations in our lives Make a photograph album of all the different events that you have celebrated during the past year. Include events that:  were of personal importance to you, like a birthday  involved your family or friends, like a wedding  were celebrated by the whole community, like an important religious festival .  For each celebration write about:  who was involved – just your family and friends, or everybody in the community?  how you celebrated  the reason for the celebration. Why do people want to remember past events? Do we remember sad as well as happy times?

Why learn about religious buildings?
Learning about these helps you to understand and respect the beliefs and cultures of other people, and to appreciate the connection between what people believe and how they live. By looking at the design, shape, style and use of religious buildings, you can gain insight into the history and traditions of different religions and their influence on life today
 

What will you learn about religious buildings? You will learn about buildings associated with Christianity and how Hindus worship; why the Torah scrolls in the synagogue are so important to Jewish people , how Sikhs keep their holy book in the gurdwara and the way Muslims decorate their mosques some religious buildings are multi-purpose – for example, a school hall may be used as a church too or a mosque that was once a church

Be a detective when you go out You will be making your own model of a religious building to prepare write down what shapes and symbols you see on religious buildings; make sketches, collect postcards, photographs and leaflets. An encyclopaedia can give useful information and your local Yellow Pages lists places of worship to see in your area. Religious Education Exchange Service - re-xs.ucsm.ac.uk has a quiz and virtual tours of religious buildings. The RE Site - www.theresite.org.uk includes websites for religious buildings