Good morning everyone, please stand for the morning prayer:
Today we're going to start talking about two holidays coming up next week: Eid and Indian Arrival Day. Eid is a Muslim holiday that has become a part of Trinidad culture brought across by indentured laborers many years ago. All the way on the other side of the world, there are two countries next to each other called "India" and "Pakistan". Many years ago these two countries were part of one country called India. A lot of people came to Trinidad from India and crossed a great big ocean to get here. How do you think they got here? Did they drive across the ocean? Did they walk? They came on a boat. The first of many boats to come to Trinidad was called the Fatel Razak or "Fath Al Razack" which means "Victory of Allah (God) the Provider".
As we are from Trinidad, we are called Trinidadians. So Indian people are people from the country India. Many Indians with different faiths like Hindus and Muslims traveled together on boats like the Fatel Razack to come to Trinidad following the promise of a new life, good jobs, and land/property. We will talk more about this as we get closer to Indian Arrival Day. I would like you all to pack one bag with your most important belongings, including clothes to go to a new country. Only ONE bag, that may be about the size of a grocery bag, or put the belongings in a piece of cloth and tie the ends together with an adult's help. Go to the smallest part of your home or even a bed with your family and imagine spending all day, any many, many days there, pretending it is a boat. Hold on to your belongings! This is what we refer to as your "jihagi" or "jhagi" bundle, which in Trinidad, is a parcel of bag of items packed for a journey. Imagine a lot more people sharing that space too.
Imagine the waves pushing and pulling your pretend boat as you crash into one another. Pretend to be on a boat throughout the day, filled with a lot of people bumping in to one another. Indians were not the only people that crossed a great big ocean to come to Trinidad on a boat. As different Indians from different places, and of different faiths traveled together on these boats, so did thousands of others from countries like Africa, who were forced to come to Trinidad many, many years before the Indians that chose to come. Many of our ancestors that traveled to Trinidad on boats through many years formed what is called "jihagi bhai" or "boat brotherhood". Listen to this song. What does it make you think about?
Get a piece of paper and colour/decorate it on both sides. Follow the instructions in the video below to make your own paper boat. Pick a name for the boat and ask an adult to help you spell it as you write a name for your boat on the side. What did you name your boat, and why did you choose that name?
Each and every person that came to this country many years ago brought their culture, customs, and beliefs with them. For example, this includes things like how they pray, how they dress, how they take care of themselves and others, what and how they eat, and other ways of life. Many people got in a lot of trouble for this, but today we honour some of these customs or ways of life in our families or through public holidays in our countries. Eid is one of these public holidays.
Eid is a Muslim holiday that celebrates the end of Ramadan. Some of you may remember that we spoke about Catholics fasting for Lent for 40 days. Ramadan is a time of fasting and praying for 40 days celebrated by Muslims. People wish each other "Happy Eid" or "Eid Mubarak" and wait to see the new moon in the sky to break their fast by having something sweet and then eating their meals. Our Muslim brothers and sisters often share sweets like kurma, gulab jamoon, sawine, halwa, and sweeties among others.
Food that is often shared includes roti, curry duck and/or goat, stew chicken, curry channa/aloo, pumpkin, and curried chatigne among others.
In Trinidad, friends, families, and neighbours are often invited to share meals and children sometimes receive gifts or money in some households. These are practices we continue today that were brought across by Indians, as we note contributions of Muslim Indians, over a hundred years ago. Have you ever tasted these sweets or food? Draw a circle in your drawing book. This is your plate. Draw the sweets and food you would like to eat most and colour them in. Pretend to share your food with your family.
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