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How to complete

the challenge

This aim of this challenge is help you discover all about Diwali

and have loads of fun along the way.

To earn a badge, you need to complete at least one activity from

each of the 5 sections from the challenge.

light

tradition cuisine

celebration

discovery

Discovery In this section learn all about the

story of Diwali then do at least one

activity based on it.

What is Diwali?

Diwali starts on the 30th October 2016 and lasts for 5 days. Diwali means

“festival of lights” and is celebrated over 5 days every year. The

celebrations are very colourful and represent triumph of light over

darkness and good over evil. It originates from the story of Rama and Sita

Who celebrates Diwali?

Diwali is mostly a Hindu festival, but it is also celebrated by Sikh and

Jain religions.

What does the festival involve?

Dhanvantari Triodasi (Day 1)

This is a day for preparations from sunset including bathing, lighting oil

lamps with special food and praying for protection.

Naraka Chaturdasi (Day 2)

On this day, it’s remembered that Lord Krishna destroyed the demon

Narakasura and liberated 16000 princesses.

Diwali (Day 3)

This is the Hindu New Year. Everyone gets together with families to

celebrate.

Goverdhan Pooja (Day 4)

Translated as “mountain of food”, on this day loads of food is prepared in

honour of the god who sheltered a village by lifting a mountain with his

pinky finger.

Bhratri Dooj (Day 5)

This day is dedicated to celebrating brothers and sisters

The Story of Rama and Sita

There was once a great warrior, Prince

Rama, who had a beautiful wife named

Sita.

There was also a terrible demon king,

Ravana. He had twenty arms and ten

heads, and was feared throughout the

land. He wanted to make Sita his wife,

and one day he kidnapped her and took

her away in his chariot. Sita left a

trail of her jewellery for Rama to

follow.

Rama followed the trail of glittering

jewellery until he met the monkey king,

Hanuman, who became his friend and

agreed to help find Sita. Messages were sent to all the monkeys in the

world, and through them to all the bears, who set out to find Sita.

After a very long search, Hanuman found Sita imprisoned on an island.

Rama's army of monkeys and bears couldn't reach the island, so they began

to build a bridge. Soon all the animals of the world, large and small, came

to help. When the bridge was built,

they rushed across it and fought a

mighty battle.

When Rama killed the evil Ravana with

a magic arrow, the whole world

rejoiced. Rama and Sita began their

long journey back to their land, and

everybody lit oil lamps to guide them

on their way and welcome them back.

Ever since, people light lamps at

Diwali to remember that light triumphs

over dark and good triumphs over evil.

Diwali Story Sketches

Rama and Sita is one story of Diwali, but there are lots of others

(listed in the back of this pack). Break out into small groups and act out

each of the stories to show to the rest of the unit. You could make props /

masks for each of the characters you are playing.

Diwali Masks

As part of your own celebrations or creating story sketches, decorate a

mask of a character in a story.

Remember to make it bright and colourful in line with Diwali themes.

Templates for the masks are in the back of this pack.

Invite an expert!

Approximately 2% of the population in the UK identified themselves as

Hindu in the last census. See if you can find one of them to come in and

talk to you about Diwali and why it is so important to their religion.

Perhaps you have a Guide who follows Hinduism, or has a member of their

family that does. If they are comfortable they could spend some time

talking about what they do during Diwali.

Share Diwali (Brownie / Guides)

As a unit, come up with a way to share what Diwali is with another unit

or a wider audience. This could be a simple as doing a 5-10 minute sketch /

talk to another group. Or if you really wanted to get inventive here are

some ideas:

Flick books

Stop motion film

Comic book designs

Posters

Diwali Hands

On a piece of card or paper, draw around your hand. Write the name of

each of the days of Diwali on each of the fingers, then decorate the hand

in beautiful bright colours. Perhaps try to decorate each finger with

things that remind you of the tradition on that day.

Cuisine This section is all about the traditional

food that is eaten during Diwali. Have a go

a cooking or simply bring some in to try.

By far the most traditional type of food at Diwali

is sweets; we’ve got a few recipes for you here!

Coconut Ladoo

You will need:

2 cups of desiccated coconut

1 cup of condensed milk

2 tablespoons of chopped nuts /dried

fruit(optional)

Method

1. Add the coconut to a pan and heat for about 2 minutes until lightly

toasted

2. Add your condensed milk and nuts/fruit (if you are using them) and

heat and stir until it becomes stiff like biscuit dough.

3. Transfer the mixture out of the pan to cool down until it can be

handled safely.

4. Roll the mixture into small balls (this mix should make about 20), hen

roll in desiccated coconut to finish.

5. Enjoy!

Chocolate Peda

You will need:

1.5 tbs cocoa powder

4 tbs milk powder

3 tbs ground almonds

3 crushed rich tea biscuits

Boiled milk (as needed—1-2 tbs)

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together to make a soft dough (use the milk to

combine...add a tiny bit at a time). You can oil you hands beforehand to stop

the dough sticking.

2. Roll into small balls (or whatever shape you’d like)

3. You can add a nut / dried fruit to the top for decoration if you like.

Barfi

You will need:

250g Milk Powder

300ml double cream

50g caster sugar

You can add anything to flavour the

mix, traditionally it would be nuts or

dried fruit.

Method

1. Mix the milk powder, cream and sugar in a microwaveable bowl until well

combined.

2. Put in the microwave on full power for 1 minute. Remove and then stir well.

3. Repeat this process until you have a mixture with the consistency of custard.

4. Add any dried fruit or nuts

5. Pour the mixture into a tray lined with greaseproof paper and put in the

fridge to set.

6. Once firm, cut the mixture into small squares to serve.

Easy Vegetable Samosas

You will need (makes 8)

1 onion diced

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 curry powder

2 large potatoes, cooked and mashed

1 cup green veg (eg. Spinach, curly kale etc)

1 pack rolled puff pastry

Method

1. Add the onion, peas, curry powder and green veg to a pan and fry lightly for

about 10 minutes until everything is cooked and soft.

2. Add the mashed potato and place in the fridge to cool down.

3. Unroll the pastry and cut into 8 large triangles.

4. Once the mixture is cool, place a large spoonful on one side of the pastry

triangle, then gently fold the other side of pastry over the top, sealing it

down with water. (Make sure you pinch the pastry together hard to there are

no leaks!

5. Bake in the over at 180 degrees until golden brown (about 20 mins)

Chakli/Mukuru (savoury snack)

You will need:

200ml sour cream 1tsp green chili paste

1 tsp ground ginger 1/2 tsp sesame seeds 1/4 tsp cumin

150g plain flour Method

1. Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and form a dough (add more flour if it

is not working).

2. Roll the dough into long sausages about the width of a pencil

3. Make spirals from the dough that are about 2” wide

4. Fry the spirals in oil (make sure an adult is present) until golden brown.

5. Season with salt and eat when cool.

A cup of Chai Tea

This is something people make when meeting up with friends and will

always be available during Diwali celebrations. This recipe will make

enough for a couple of cups, or enough for everyone to have a taste

You will need:

350ml water

100ml milk

4 black peppercorns

10 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

1 tsp fresh ginger

1 tea bag

Sugar to taste

Method

1. Put everything except the tea bag into a pan and bring to the boil.

2. Once it has reached the boil turn it down and let the spices gently infuse

for 15 minutes

3. Add the tea bag and let it brew for a couple of minutes

4. Strain the mixture into a tea cup, add sugar to taste and enjoy!

Ready, Steady, Diwali

Why not challenge groups in your unit to come up with their own Diwali

recipe using traditional ingredients, you could even make it into a

competition and invite an expert judge!

Visit / Taste from an Indian Sweet Shop

Arrange a visit to a local Indian sweet shop, or get your leaders to

stop by before your meeting to pick up some treats for you to try. If you

don’t have one local, there are lots of places to order Indian treats

online.

Tradition This section is all about the traditions

of Diwali; we’ve got lots of crafts in

this section for you to get stuck into.

Rangoli with rice/salt

Rangoli is a traditional form of art

that is created during Diwali, where

loose coloured material such as grains of

rice or sand are poured into intricate

patterns to bring good luck.

The picture on the right has been made with

a mixture of rice and sand.

For this activity you will need to create your own coloured rice/salt, then

use it to create rangoli patterns. There are templates in the back of this

pack, or you could design your own as a unit, or have a competition in

small groups.

To make coloured rice:

1. Take a few handfuls of uncooked rice (any kind) or salt and place in a

zip lock bag.

2. Add a teaspoon of water, plus a few drops of food colouring.

3. Zip the bag up and shake well until all the colour is distributed. If

you need to add more colouring to make the colour stronger do so now

4. Empty the contents onto a baking tray and place in the oven on a low

heat for about 10 minutes to seal in the colouring.

Rangoli with hamma beads

You could also make rangoli patterns with hama beads (especially if

you are looking to use up that massive box in the cupboard!). There are

patterns in the back of this pack—or make up your own!

Lakashmi Footprints

During Diwali, Hindus of all lands welcome Lakshmi (also

spelled Laxmi) into their homes by cleaning and

decorating. Tiny footprints of Lakashmi are found

around the house to show her arrival.

Create some colourful footprints to and

lay a trail for others to follow.

Remember to make them bright,

colourful and welcoming!

Henna Handprint

It is a Hindu tradition to paint pretty designs

onto the hands and feet at festivals and weddings

and in some countries it is traditional to paint

lovely henna "mehndi" designs on the hands for

celebrations.

Either trace around you hand on a piece of paper, cut

out and design your own henna patter on the paper.

Or if you are feeling brave, using a WASHABLE felt

tip pen, or brown eyeliner, draw a small design on

each other’s hands. Check with leaders first to make

sure what you are using will definitely come off and

that nobody is allergic to anything being put on

skin.

Bottle Bangles

Bangles are often worn or given as gifts during Diwali. Take a

plastic bottle (eg 500ml coke bottle) and carefully cut a ring from about

1-2” wide. (younger girls will need lots of help with this). Smooth off the

edges with sandpaper, then decorate with nail varnish/marker pens/foil.

Remember to make them bright and cheerful!

Lotus Flower Garland

A symbol of peace and tranquility in Indian culture, the Lotus

Flower is used in many Indian religious festivals.

You will need:

different coloured crepe paper cut into flower shapes with holes in the

middle

string or thick thread;

small dried pasta tubes or macaroni.

Cut the string to an appropriate garland length and tie a big knot in on

end, leaving a bit of string at the end for tying.

At the end of the string thread through a piece of dried pasta and then

grab a handful of the flower cut-outs together and thread the string

through the hole.

Then add another tube of pasta and continue the process until the garland

is finished. Finally tie the two ends together to complete your garland.

Lord Ganesh

Lord Ganesh is the elephant-headed god who is a

symbol of wisdom and is worshipped in most homes

during Diwali.

Make your own 3-d elephant using the template in the

back of this pack. Print it out onto card, then

decorate in bright colours, then fold and stick as

instructed to create your 3d elephant!

Exchanging Gifts!

Make a gift and exchange them with others in your unit or even with

another unit.

Suggestions:

- Wrap small candies in silver paper.

- Create flower vines from coloured tissue paper - Fan-fold small pieces

of tissue paper, gather in the centre with staple then fluff

out the layers to create the flowers.

- Use Silver Beads of all shapes and sizes on cord to create necklaces,

bracelets, key chains and backpack charms.

Light Diwali is the festival of light! In legends,

lights were used to show the path back to

home.

Diyas

Diyas are the traditional tea-light

holders used in Diwali. They come in all

shapes, from tears drops to flowers.

Using air drying clay, have a go at making

your own Diya. Remember that they should

be quite small, and usually are naturally

coloured in browns and dark reds, but can

also be painted very bright colours too.

Glow stick trail

When Rama and Sita journeyed back home, people lit lamps to help guide

them. Using glow sticks, set a trail for your unit / small groups to

follow. It should only be the light that will guide them along the way.

For younger girls, keep the glowsticks near to each other, but for Guides &

Senior Section, make it a bit more challenging by only being able to see

one glowstick at a time (ie. Quite spaced apart).

Light Moods

Light can have a big impact on our moods. Buy some coloured light bulbs

(5 different colours for £8 on amazon) and bring in a desk lamp.

Turn off all the lights apart from the desk lamp so that only the coloured

light is showing.

Discuss how the colour of the light makes people feel. Often different

emotions are associated with different colours:

Red = anger / love / alert Yellow = happy / cheerful

Blue = sad / lonely Orange = warmth / energy / healthy

Green = calm / relaxed

How do your moods compare to these?

Beaded tea-light holders

You will need:

- A small glass jar

- Craft wire

- Beads or Glass (acrylic) paint

Instructions:

1. Wrap the wire tightly around the top of the jar.

2. Make a loop of wire over the top of the jar to make a

handle.

3. Feed under the wire around the jar rim and pass back

over to make another loop.

4. Twist the two loops together. Feed some beads on to

the wire, widely spaced out. Twist the wire around the

body of the jar.

5. When you have wrapped around all of the wire, twist the end into the

wire around the rim to hold everything in place.

6. Alternatively you could decorate your jar with paint instead of using

beads.

Push Pin Candles

This is a very simple but effective craft to decorate candles.

Using drawing pins, push them into the candle to make any

pattern your like. Your could just use gold pins, or you could

use multi coloured ones.

Strike a match

Learning to light a match properly is an important task. Leaders should

help girls to learn how to correctly strike a match and use it to light a

candle.

Remember the key points:

always strike the match away from you

Don’t drop the match or if you are worried you might drop it, strike it

over the sink.

If you are not comfortable doing it, don’t do it.

We’d recommend using long matches for younger girls, and this activity is

only suitable for Brownie age upwards.

Sparklers & fireworks

Diwali is very close to firework night and fireworks are becoming

increasingly popular to celebrate Diwali due to their bright colourful

lights.

See if you can attend a firework display as a unit—or if you have suitable

outdoor space you could bring sparklers to a unit meetings.

If you are doing sparklers remember

Adults must be present at all times

You must wear gloves

Stand in a space away from other people

Make sure there is a bucket of water nearby

To keep you entertained on your celebration night we’ve

listed some traditional games you could play!

Matha (Forehead)

This is for 3 to 5 players.

Each one gets one card and without seeing its face value, everyone has to

stick it on his / her forehead.

Now everyone can see your card, but you.

Everyone gets a chance to ask other players some vague questions like if

their card is higher or lower than others? Is it black or red? Is it a

number or a character?

Everyone can pitch in to answer his / her question in yes or no. Each one

asks one question each round.

The first one to guess his card correctly wins the game

Celebration This section is very simple! Hold an evening

to celebrate Diwali! You could invite other

units and use any of the activities from

this pack for the night of the celebration!

Remember, it needs to be bright, colourful

and full of light!

Gadha (Donkey)

In groups of four, collect four sets of four cards of the same kind for

each player (E.g. 4A’s, 4Queens, 4kings, 4Jacks).

Now shuffle those 16 cards and deal them face down equally for all the

players involved.

Review the cards on your hand and discard one useless card you don’t need

to make a set.

Place the discarded card in front of the player on your left and then take

the card placed in front of you by the player on your right.

Continue this until you have a whole set with you and lay them down. You

win.

The others continue to play until they make a whole set and the last one

to fold is the Gadha.

Repeat playing the game until everyone is a Gadha.

Jodidaar (Partner)

This game is for 4 payers, in teams of 2 and the members of a team sit on

opposite ends of a table, facing each other.

Before the game begins, each team decides a secret signal to give to the

other member in case they have four of a kind. This should be a simple

facial cue like scratching your nose, winking, smiling, snapping your

fingers, yawning (something you are liable to do unconsciously and should

avoid doing it until needed).

The dealer deals four cards to each player and keeps the rest of the deck

in the middle.

The dealer takes one card from the middle and has the choice of either

keeping it or discarding it.

He passes on the unwanted card to the next player and if everyone rejects

it, the dealer takes a fresh card from the middle.

This goes on until someone makes four of a kind. In this case, that player

has to give the signal to his jodidaar (partner) that he has made a set and

that partner has to shout “Signal”.

If this is a legitimate set, they win and if the partner misreads the

signal, they lose.

If a member of the other team notices this signal claims it, and it was a

legitimate signal, the other team wins.

Ghanchakkar (Liar)

2 to 12 players can play this game and the objective is to get rid of all

your cards.

Dealer deals all 52 cards from a shuffled deck. Some may get some more

than others, but that doesn’t matter.

The game starts with a random player discarding an Ace in the middle

facedown, the second person discards a two, the third person discards a

three and so on…Ten, Jack, Queen and a King.

Because every card is discarded facedown, there is no way to make sure if

they are discarding the card that they claim.

You can bluff your way and place any card. If any other player suspects

that you are bluffing, he can call you out as a Ghanchakkar and you will

have to show everyone your discarded card.

If you are right, he gets the whole pile in the middle and if you bluffed,

you get the whole pile of cards. The first player to get rid of all of his

cards and survives any challenge till the end wins the game.

Diwali Stories Dhanteras - story of Goddess Lakshmi and the Farmer

The goddess Lakshmi was desperate to visit Earth. Lord Vishnu allowed her to accompany him on one of his visits if she

promised not to look south, or get tempted by anything on Earth.

When Lakshmi arrived, she could not resist the urge to look south. She started to move south and was mesmerised by the

beauty of yellow mustard flowers grown by a poor farmer and started decorating herself with them.

Lord Vishnu was very cross that Lakshmi had broken her promise and told her to spend the next 12 years on Earth with the

poor farmer as penance.

After 12 years, with Lakshmi’s good fortune, the farmer became very wealthy. When Lord Vishnu came to collect her, the

farmer did not want her to leave. Lakshmi promised to visit the farmer every year during the night of Krishna Trayodashi. The

farmer would make sure everything was clean and tidy before she arrived—hence the tradition of cleaning before Diwali.

Killing of Narakasura

Narakasura was a demon who ruled the kingdom of Pradyoshapuram. Under his rule, people suffered a great deal.

Unable to bear it any longer, the people pleaded with Lord Krishna to save them from his torture. Narakasura could only be

killed by his mother, however she had died and been reincarnated as Sathyabhama, she agreed to help fight with Lord Krishna.

When Krishna fell unconscious after being hit by an arrow of Naraka, Sathyabhama takes the bow and aims the arrow at

Naraka, killing him instantly.

The message of Naraka Chaturdashi Parva is that the good of the society should always prevail over one evil power.

Story of Narak Chaturdashi

There once was a King called Ranti Deva. He considered himself a good man. One day, the god of death, Yama came to his door

and told him he had come to collect his soul because he had sinned.

The king could not understand why, so Yama explained that he had once turned away a hungry priest who had asked the king

for help. The king begged Yama for one more year so that he could make up for it on Earth. The king spent the year meeting

with others to tell his story. It was suggested to him that he fast at Narak Chaturdashi and offer food to priests to make up for

his sins. Since that day, Narak Chaturdashi is celebrated as a day to release yourself from sin and do good things to help make

up for them.

Govardhana Puja

The day after Diwali is referred to as Annakuta, or Govardhan Puja. On this day the inhabitants of Vrindavan (Lord Krishna’s

abode on Earth) would hold a harvest festival in honor of King Indra, who provided the rains essential for the harvest.

One day, however, Lord Krishna wanted to teach Indra a lesson. He convinced the people of Vrindavan to honor Govardhan Hill

instead, whose fertile soil provided the grass upon which the cows and bulls grazed, and to honor the cows and bulls who

provided milk and ploughed the lands. Outraged, Indra retaliated with terrifying thunderstorms. Krishna, calmly lifted

Govardhan Hill with the little finger of his left hand. For seven days and seven nights the Lord held up Govardhan Hill, providing

a giant umbrella to shelter the inhabitants of Vrindavan from the torrential rain. Realizing the futility of his actions, King Indra

bowed down before the Lord with folded hands and offered prayers of supplication.

Now as part of the celebrations, people prepare mountains of food in memory of this act and distribute it to the public.

Rangoli Pattern

Rangoli Pattern

Rangoli Pattern

Rangoli Pattern

Hama bead patterns