Faith Day

On Friday, we had a 'Faith Day' at school. 

In the Nursery we found out about the Jewish Menorah - which stands for light, wisdom and Divine inspiration.

Originally, the Menorah was a seven-branched candelabra beaten out of a solid piece of gold that served as one of the sacred vessels in the Holy Temple. It stood in the southern part of the Temple and was lit every day by the High Priest. Only pure, fresh olive oil of the highest quality was suitable to light the Menorah.

The seven lamps of the Menorah also allude to knowledge, with six of the branches representing human wisdom, guided by the centre branch of Divine light.

We have been creating our own hand and thumb print Menorahs!

We have also been finding out about Muslim prayer mats. 

Muslims are expected to pray to Allah (God) five times a day. They can pray anywhere, but are expected to do so in a clean place. For this reason, Muslims will use a prayer mat if they are not praying in the mosque (the Muslim place of worship). It makes the place where they put the mat a temporary mosque.

All Muslims face in the direction of the holy city of Makkah (Mecca) when they pray, and more specifically, the sacred cube shaped shrine, the Ka'bah, in the centre of Makkah.

After prayer, the mat is immediately folded or rolled and put away for the next use, this ensures that it remains clean. Prayer mats are decorated in various ways, including geometric patterns, floral patterns and pictures of 

famous mosques.

We have been designing some of our own . . .

Can you see which shapes we have used?

Would you be able to continue the 

repeating pattern?

What would your design look like?