At the heart of the story of Jesus of Nazareth is a man whose life has left an enduring impact on the world. According to the accounts found in the Gospels, Jesus is said to have led a remarkable life. His life and teachings are always described in letters written by Paul, and he is also mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus.

The Gospels, attributed to Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, serve as primary sources, each presenting a unique perspective on Jesus’ life. These accounts are akin to friends sharing their recollections of a significant event, creating a picture of the man and his teachings.

Paul, a prominent figure in the early Christian movement, wrote letters to various communities, discussing Jesus’ life and teachings. His letters provide additional insights into the beliefs and practices of the early followers of Jesus.

The historian Josephus, who lived during the same period, contributed to our understanding of the historical context in which Jesus lived. His writings touch upon various aspects of Jewish history, including references to Jesus.

The story begins with the miraculous birth of Jesus. According to the accounts, Mary, his mother, received a visit from an angel who foretold the birth of a special child. Mary, and the man she was to marry, Joseph, traveled from their home in Nazareth to Bethlehem where they were to be taxed by the Roman Empire. In Bethlehem, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable for animals because there was no room for them in the inns – or hotels – in the town. Shepherds were believed to have seen an angel and followed a star to the stable where they celebrated the birth of the child they believed would become their king. Later, Wise Men from the Orient visited the child Jesus and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and murr. To this day, Jesus’s birth is celebrated on Christmas and is reenacted in plays and reimagined in different ornaments and artwork to remember the birth of the child. 

As Jesus grew, he gained a reputation for performing miracles. These included healing the sick, turning water into wine, and, in one instance, even bringing a man back to life. These accounts portray Jesus as someone with extraordinary abilities, fostering a belief among many that he possessed unique powers.

Jesus’ teachings form an important part of his legacy. He emphasized principles such as kindness, compassion, and love. One of his well-known teachings is the Golden Rule: “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” This simple yet profound principle advocates treating others with the same kindness and respect one desires for oneself.

His teachings extended to helping those in need, urging his followers to help the hungry, the poor, and the less fortunate. The idea was to cultivate a sense of responsibility and create a world where everyone looks out for one another.

However, according to the accounts of his followers, not everyone embraced Jesus’ message. Powerful figures felt threatened by his teachings, leading to his arrest and subsequent death. Despite the tragic end, his followers believed that Jesus came back to life and his “resurrection” as it was called means that like Jesus others can have life after death.

Following the death of Jesus, his followers (also called disciples), who had been witnesses to Jesus’ teachings and believed in his resurrection, continued to spread his message. They traveled to different regions, carrying the message of love, redemption, and the promise of eternal life. This missionary activity led to the formation of communities of believers who followed the teachings of Jesus and saw him as the promised Messiah. These groups became known as Christians because they believed Jesus was a Savior or Christ who would save them.

The Apostle Paul, in particular, played an important role in the early growth of Christianity. Paul traveled throughout the Mediterranean region teaching about Jesus and bringing new people to the faith, including Greeks and people of all backgrounds and ethnicities.

Paul’s letters, which are now included in the New Testament, taught about Jesus and his missionary journeys. They form the early theology of the belief in Jesus as the Christ.

As the Christian communities grew, they faced both acceptance and opposition. The teachings of Jesus, emphasizing love, compassion, and equality, resonated with many, but they also challenged existing social norms and religious practices. Christians were sometimes persecuted for their beliefs, but this adversity only fueled their commitment to the message of Jesus.

Over the centuries, Christianity continued to evolve, adopting various cultural practices and incorporating diverse ideas. Eventually, it became the new religion of the Roman Empire, which led to its spread across the Empire, Europe, and beyond. Later, Christmas became a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus. Many of the symbols of Christmas today come from the stories of his birth: bright stars and gifts for example.

Today, it is estimated there are over 2 billion Christians worldwide, which are made up of many different types of believers, churches, and denominations – but most are united in the belief in Jesus as a divine being and teacher. But even for those who aren’t believers in Jesus’s divinity, many today accept Jesus as a gifted numbered among Buddha, Confucius, and Gandhi, who have led by their example of how to treat others with kindness and compassion. 

The teachings of Jesus continue to resonate today. You may wonder how what Jesus said and did can apply to your own life. Jesus taught, “Do to others as you would have them do to you.” It’s easy to become focused on ourselves, but there’s so much going on outside of us and others want to be treated with the same respect we expect.

We all goof up sometimes, right? Jesus was big on forgiving others (and yourself!). So, if someone messes up, or you make a mistake, don’t be too hard on yourself or others. Learn from it, forgive, and move on. 

Jesus taught about compassion. He said we should “love our neighbor” meaning those around us. He taught that he might even mean someone we don’t necessarily like, and even taught his followers to love their enemies. Little acts of kindness, helping out a friend, or volunteering in your community — that’s like living out Jesus’ message of helping those around you.

It’s cool to be awesome at stuff, but remember, nobody’s perfect. Jesus talked about being humble, which means being real about your strengths and weaknesses. It’s all about learning, growing, and staying down-to-earth. He also taught us not to judge others and to try and see our faults and how we can improve before we try and make judgments of others.

Everyone’s got their own story, right? Jesus was big on respecting everyone, no matter where they come from or who they are. He treated people who were normally shunned like the sick or those who made poor decisions the same as everyone else. He often criticized the leaders who were judgemental and didn’t treat others with kindness. Like Jesus, treating others with respect, no matter the differences is like spreading good vibes everywhere you go.

Life can get pretty hectic, huh? Jesus knew the importance of taking a breather. Often, he took the time to get away from the crowds, pray meditate and clear his head. He often did this in the mountains or quiet places or while he walked from town to town. So, set some boundaries for yourself. Take a break, reflect, and take care of your mental and emotional well-being.

In summary, the story of Jesus of Nazareth transcends religious boundaries, offering valuable lessons that can inspire people from all walks of life to strive for a world characterized by empathy, understanding, and goodwill.

We hope you enjoyed learning about the origins of the Christmas holiday and the story of Jesus of Nazareth and his teachings; however you celebrate the winter holiday whether it be Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza, Chinese New Year, or one of the other many holidays across the wide world, we wish you a happy holiday and New Year!

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Not only do these holidays mean special foods, traditions, and gatherings, they also each have their own history and stories to go with them. For millions of Jews around the world, early December means celebrating Hanukkah for eight nights. 

Hanukkah is Jewish holiday that has its own meaning and history. Judaism is a very old religion that started in the part of the world we now call the middle east. Jews believe in one god, just like Christians and Muslims. Judaism actually uses the same Bible as Christians,  though only the first part – the old testament,  which they call the Tanakh. They also have a special name for the first five books of the bible: the Torah. They don’t use the New Testament, which has the parts about Jesus. Jews celebrate their sabbath, or holy day, on Saturday. On that day, they might go to a worship service at a Synagogue,  and many avoid work and buying things. 

Even though it happens around the same time of year, Hanukkah is not a Jewish version of Christmas. Christmas celebrates the birth of the Christian savior, Jesus. Hanukkah celebrates a miracle that happened for the Jewish people over 2 thousand years ago. Even though the Jews believe in the old testament of the Bible, this story isn’t in the Bible. Even though it’s very old, it happened long after the stories told in the Torah. Let me tell you the story. 

A long time ago, in the middle of the second century BCE, the Jewish homeland, in what is now called Israel, was ruled by a Syrian-Greek power called the Seleucid Empire. The Seleucids thought that Greek culture and customs were the best in the world. The king, Antiochus, made it illegal to practice the Jewish religion and customs. He put an altar to the Greek god Zeus in the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, even though the Jews believed in only one God (and it wasn’t Zeus). He allowed his priests to sacrifice a pig to the Greek gods in the temple. The Jews believed that pigs are unclean. Jews could be punished very severely if they were caught practicing their religion. 

The Jews did not want to give up their religion or abandon their belief in one god. And they didn’t believe it was okay to pretend to follow the Greek gods, either. But they had to hide their religion. Jews would gather to pray and study the Torah in secret. If a Seleucid patrol passed by, they would quickly hide their books and pretend to play a game with a spinning top. 

King Antiochus began to send soldiers to all the villages in the area to make sure that the Jews were sacrificing to the Greek gods. When they reached a small town called Modi’in though, the Jewish priest there, Mattathias, refused to cooperate. He and his five sons fought off the soldiers and destroyed the pagan altar they’d set up. 

After that, Mattathias knew they’d be in trouble. He and his sons – John, Simon, Judah, Eliezer, and Jonathan – ran to the nearby hills to hide. 

But they weren’t done fighting for their right to practice their religion. The family returned with many other Jews who had fled persecution and started a revolt. Mattathias asked his son Simon, who was known for his wisdom, to guide the others in their decisions. He asked Judah, who was nicknamed “Maccabee”, which means “the hammer”, to lead the people into battle. Later, the whole family and their followers would also come to be known as the Maccabees.

The revolt lasted nearly 20 years. King Antiochus sent many armies to fight the rebels, but the Maccabees defeated every one, and eventually took back Jerusalem and their temple. For the Jewish people, Jerusalem is a special place, and the temple there was the most important one of all. Mattathias’ last living son, Simon, became the ruler of Judea. 

But the price of all the fighting was high. 

Even though they had taken back Jerusalem, the  temple had been nearly destroyed in the fighting. The temple lamp, called a menorah, had been stolen by the Seleucids. This lamp had seven branches, each with its own flame: one in the middle, higher than the rest, and three on either side of it. The temple menorah was made of gold, had beautiful decorations, and was supposedly as tall as a grown-up! 

The Jews cleaned up the temple, getting rid of the statues of the Greek gods. They built a new altar and a new menorah. They performed a special ceremony to rededicate the temple to their god. 

But it seemed their problems weren’t at an end. Priests were supposed to light the menorah lamps each morning, letting them burn all day and night, until the next morning. One candle from the previous day was always used to light all the others each morning, so the flame never went out completely. These flames were fed by the purest olive oil, but after all the fighting, there was only enough oil to light the lamp for one day. 

But then a miracle happened: the flames didn’t die out by the next morning. Instead, the oil lasted for 8 days! This gave the Jews enough time to make more oil, and ensured that the lamp wouldn’t go out again. More importantly, the miracle gave them hope that their god was still there, protecting them and caring for them. He had literally given them light in a very dark time. 

The priests decided that every year, the Jews would remember this miracle and their rededication of the temple by lighting candles for eight nights. The celebration starts on the 25th day of the month Kislev on the Jewish calendar. The Jewish calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, so it doesn’t always fall on the same day in the western calendar, but it’s between late November and mid-December.

So how is Hanukkah celebrated today?

The lighting of candles is probably still the most recognizable part of the celebration. Each night, for eight nights, families light candles on a menorah, one for each night. Usually, the oldest son in the family gets to light the menorah, and they say a blessing as they light the candles. So on the first night, you light one candle, the second night two, until the eighth night when all the candles are lit. 

If you’ve been paying really close attention, you might remember that I said the temple menorah had seven lamps on it, not eight. Good catch! On Hanukkah, a special menorah, called a Hanukkiah is used. A Hanukkiah actually has nine candles. Traditionally, one is higher than all the others. This is called the shamash candle, and it’s used to light the other candles each night. So each night, there’s actually one extra candle lit – the shamash.

Jewish families often place their menorahs in a window, showing that they won’t hide who they are, like they had to when they lived under Seleucid rule. In many cities throughout the world, you might also see giant menorahs set up in public places, lit with an extra lamp each night of Hanukkah.

But Hanukkah is more than lighting candles. Jewish families also gather together to reconnect and eat special meals. For Hanukkah, the tradition is to eat foods that are fried in oil to commemorate the miracle of the oil lamp. People eat fried potato pancakes called latkes, often topped with sour cream or applesauce. They also eat delicious jelly donuts called sufganyot. 

Some families give small gifts to their children, though gifts aren’t a big part of Hanukkah like they are for Christmas. One traditional gift is chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil called gelt. 

The gelt are also used in a game called dreidel at Hanukkah. A dreidel is a spinning top with four sides. If you remember, the Jews would often pretend to be playing with a spinning top if a Syrian passed by while they were praying. The dreidel has four Hebrew letters on it: Nun, Gimel, Hay, and Shin. These letters stand for the Hebrew words “Nes Gadol Hayah Sham”, which means “A great miracle happened there.” 

I won’t go into all the details, but players each put a token, or piece of gelt, into a central pile or “pot.” Then, they take turns spinning the dreidel. Depending on which letter is facing up when the dreidel falls, the player has to take a specific action. They might have to put another token in the pot, do nothing, take half the tokens, or all the tokens (or candy!) in the center pot.  

Hanukkah offers people a sense of hope and pride in their beliefs. Beliefs and traditions can keep people going in dark, troubling times. The story of Hanukkah helps Jews remember that they’ve gone through tough times, but they’ve survived and built new traditions while holding on to their beliefs and their culture.

Whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of year, or if you don’t celebrate any, I hope you can take a few minutes with someone you love to look at the light of candles, or Christmas lights, or even the stars, and feel the warmth of peace, hope, and love.

https://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/102978/jewish/The-Hanukkah-Story.htm

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5971678/jewish/The-Menorah-Its-Story-and-Mystery.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucid_Empire

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Imagine you live in a beautiful mansion, with green lawns, swaying, leafy trees, and pleasant gardens surrounding it. You and your family have everything you need: nice clothes, books, and toys, good food. You don’t have to work for anything. Sometimes your parents make you do chores, but you suspect it’s really just to teach you some lesson about the importance of hard work.  After all, you have servants to take care of the hard work. 

This was the life that Sarah and Angelina Grimke were born into, alongside their 12 siblings. Sarah was one of the older children in the family, while Angelina was the youngest. Their father, a judge in South Carolina who had fought in the American Revolution, believed in discipline and hard work. He had his children work out in the fields with those servants, to teach them that hard work was important. 

What he didn’t count on though, was that Sarah would learn a different lesson from these chores. She didn’t believe her father really valued the hard work of these servants. She knew that he didn’t even pay them. Instead, the hundreds of workers who tended the cotton fields–the source of much of the Grimke family’s wealth–were slaves. 

Sarah’s Drive to Bring Change

Sarah didn’t just learn that these enslaved workers had a hard job though. She learned that the African Americans working beside her were real people, with minds and feelings, hopes and desires, just like hers. She saw how poorly her family treated them, forcing them to work long days, dealing out harsh punishments, and forbidding the children from going to school. 

Sarah decided to try to change things. She taught bible lessons to the enslaved children in the area. She wanted to teach them to read the scriptures for themselves, but her parents wouldn’t let her. Instead, she taught her own servant, a girl named Hetty, to read. They would close the door to her room late at night and quietly go over the lessons in Sarah’s schoolbooks. When her parents found out, they were furious. In early 19th century South Carolina, it was against the law to teach a slave to read, and her father agreed with that law. 

Sarah felt trapped. She wanted to become a lawyer, and secretly went about studying her father’s law books. But of course, Judge Grimke didn’t approve of this either. He knew his daughter was smart and capable, but thought, like most people at the time, that women should be wives and mothers. 

Sarah wanted to do something different, but as a child, she had very little opportunity to do what she wanted. When her little sister Angelina was born, she thought she saw a chance to change things. She begged her parents to let her be the baby’s godmother, and they gave in. She promised she would always cherish and protect her sister. It was the beginning of a lifelong bond between the two–the sisters were so close that Angelina even called Sarah “mother.” 

What Sarah didn’t tell her parents was that she would also make sure that little Angelina not only knew the value of hard work, but the value of the people doing that work. 

Angelina turned out to be an enthusiastic student of Sarah’s teachings. She was curious, confident, and sometimes stubborn. Like Sarah, she was upset by the poor treatment of the enslaved people who served their meals, cleaned their house, and worked long hours in the cotton fields.  

As Sarah got older, she wasn’t what she could do to help end slavery. She began to lose hope that she could ever change things. She no longer tried to teach slaves to read, because her father had nearly whipped Hetty for her lessons. But she knew deep down that she needed to help. By the time she reached her twenties, her friends and family began to worry that she would never marry. They thought this would turn her into a sad, bitter old woman. They were wrong: Sarah would find meaning and purpose in her life, but not by getting married and having children. 

Sarah Grimke and the Quakers

In 1819, Sarah went with her sick father to Philadelphia to get medical treatment. While there, his condition took a turn for the worse. The treatment didn’t help, and he passed away. While he was sick, a group of Christians called Quakers helped Sarah take care of him. They were quiet, simple, and kind people. Sarah became friends with some of them and learned that they also believed slavery was wrong. She stayed with a Quaker family for a time after her father’s death, and returned home with books they’d given her. 

When Sarah returned from Philiadelphia, her feelings that slavery was wrong began to grow. Not only that, she missed her life in Philadelphia , and wanted to become a Quaker. So a few years later, she did just that. Her antislavery views had not made her popular in South Carolina, and had even caused her to argue with her family. She returned to Philadelphia in 1821.

In the meantime, Angelina rebelled against her parent’s views. She refused to join her mother’s church, instead joining another church where the minister was against slavery. Unfortunately, many members of the church were in favor of it. Angelina was kicked out after she spoke against slavery at a church meeting.

By 1829, Angelina was also growing frustrated with the way things worked in South Carolina. She decided to join Sarah in Philadelphia, and also converted to Quakerism. The sisters’ faith would guide their thinking about slavery and the role of women in society for the rest of their lives. But just because they were in the north, where slavery was illegal, that doesn’t mean they stayed out of trouble! 

Soon after arriving in Philadelphia, Angelina wrote a letter that landed her in hot water with their Quaker friends. The letter was to William Lloyd Garrison, who published an abolitionist newspaper. Abolitionists were antislavery activists. But unlike some activists who believed slavery was wrong and should end someday, the abolitionists thought it should end NOW. Angelina praised Garrison’s work, saying that she believed abolition was a cause worth suffering, even dying for. Garrison published the letter in his newspaper. When Angelina’s fellow Quakers saw it, they were not happy.

Even though the Quakers were against slavery, their rules said that their whole community needed to agree to something before speaking out publically. They also thought that some of Angelina’s words seemed to support violence in the fight against slavery, and Quakers never supported violence. But Angelina stood behind her words, and Sarah supported her. At this point, Sarah was also frustrated with the church–she had tried for years to become a minister, but the church didn’t support her. The sisters left the Quaker church, staying true to their personal beliefs.

Angelina, the Abolitionist

Angelina’s letter attracted attention though. The American Anti-Slavery Society invited them to a speaker training in New York City.  It was there that Angelina met her future husband, Theodore Weld. Soon, abolitionist groups were contacting the sisters, asking them to speak at meetings and events. At first, they only spoke to audiences of women, but as they became more well-known, they began speaking to audiences of men and women. This was scandalous in the early 19th century. People thought that women shouldn’t speak in public. Ministers chided them, even calling Angelina “devil-ina.” 

But the Grimke sisters gained a following. Many in the northern United States had never seen slavery close up, so they didn’t really know what it was like. Some northerners thought the abolitionists must be exaggerating how bad it was. Sarah and Angelina had seen it close up, and could tell the doubters just how bad it really was. 

Angelina wrote a book aimed at Christian southern women, urging them to do what they could to end slavery. 

“I know you do not make the laws,” she wrote, “but I also know that you are the wives and mothers, the sisters and daughters of those who do; and if you really suppose you can do nothing to overthrow slavery, you are greatly mistaken.”

Angelina’s argument was simple, but powerful: The bible teaches that you should treat people how you want to be treated yourself. That’s called the Golden Rule, and it’s part of many other religions as well. No slave owner would say they want to be a slave, so how can they justify enslaving others? She told women to teach slaves to read and free them if they were the owners. 

With her book, Angelina angered both pro-slavery southerners, and northerners who believed women belonged at home. Sarah, her wise older sister and protector, knew she had to find a way to support Angelina. So, she wrote her own book!

In her book, Sarah took on her sister’s critics. She argued that women should be given the same education, pay, freedoms and rights as men. She said that both men and women would be better off if women were treated as equals, rather than as inferior to men. 

The Grimke sisters could have stayed in South Carolina, in that beautiful house with the green grass and swaying trees. They could have married wealthy husbands and lived in luxury. But they realized that choice would harm the enslaved people forced to work their land. They knew they would be partly responsible for that horrible treatment if they stayed. 

Happily, both of the Grimke sisters lived long lives, and saw the end of slavery in the United States following the Civil War. It had been a long and difficult path, and there was still a long way to go before all people had equal rights. The Grimke sisters began to help forge that path the moment they stepped out of that big, white mansion and into the wider world.

Sources

https://www.nps.gov/wori/learn/historyculture/grimke-sisters.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarah_Moore_Grimk%C3%A9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina_Grimk%C3%A9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grimk%C3%A9_sisters

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Faucheraud_Grimk%C3%A9

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Close your eyes and imagine you are in a beautiful, Japanese garden. You see a small stream leading to a calm pond covered in bright pink flowers and water lilies. The green grass around you is cut short and all of the plants and shrubbery are neatly trimmed. Flowering trees are above you. You see a wooden footbridge and cross the pond to an open area with a grand temple in the middle. It’s designed in Japanese fashion with a peaked roof. Surrounding the temple are men and women holding wooden swords. A teacher is showing them how to use the sword, swinging it upward and then down. They all follow his instructions at the same time in a coordinated dance. Then they kick and swing the swords again. Past them, in the temple, you see a group cross-legged and meditating. You suddenly realize you are observing a group of Japanese samurais in training.

Have you ever heard of a “samurai”? A samurai was an ancient warrior in the country of Japan. You could compare them to the knights of Medieval Times, because they were warriors who wore armor, fought in battles, and lived a code of honor. But they were also different from knights in other ways which we’ll talk about today.

If you saw a samurai today they’d be wearing armor, a helmet, and carrying a long sword called a “katana.” They were known for their great strength and skill and speed and their incredible use of the katana sword. The first Samurai fought on horseback. For a long time, the soldiers in Japan were peasants – simple people who farmed the land and weren’t trained to fight. So when they fought in a battle, they weren’t very effective because their job was normally farming not fighting. At the time in Japan, some of the wealthier citizens had horses and decided they might be better warriors than the peasants. Horses gave them an advantage and using a bow and arrow from the back of the horse, these wealthy Japanese became very dangerous fighters. Soon, instead of peasants fighting, more and more of the soldiers became Samurai, fighting with swords and bow and arrows from horseback.

As the samurai trained harder and from a young age, they became known for their excellent skills with the katana sword. They disciplined themselves. Discipline means to have self-control. Daily they practiced riding horses, using the katana, and doing things that were very hard but made them stronger because they pushed their body and mind to their limits. They were similar to Spartan warriors in this way, too.

Some of the legendary samurai were women, too. Tomoe Gozen fought bravely during the clan wars. She was a skilled archer and swordsman, “a warrior worth a thousand” the legends say. She was a strong horseman and could ride down steep hills. In battle, she was sent out as a captain in the best armor and the best weapons to lead the other samurai – and “performed more deeds of valor than any of the other warriors.” 

Another well known general at this time was female samurai Hangaku Gozen. Female foot soldiers were also known to fight alongside the men during clan wars.

In the Pacific Ocean, Japan is an island located off the coast of China. At the time, a powerful people called the Mongols ruled China and wanted to rule Japan, too. In 1270 A.D. Kublai Khan, the leader of the Mongol army,  decided to attack Japan. He sent 40,000 soldiers and 90 ships to invade the island. But for many years, the Japanese Samurai had been preparing and training to defend their country. When the Mongols invaded, they were met by the fast and powerful Samurai who used their skills to defend Japan and stopped the invasion. 

For a time, Japan was also divided into power clans, or groups of people sort of like small cities or towns. The clans were ruled by a leader called a “daimyo” (dime-yo). The daimyo hired samurai to protect their clan. Often clans fought against each other for more land so many of the samurai battles over the years were between competing clans. Samurai became distinguished for their honor in battle. Honor meant their commitment to the samurai code or set of rules known as the “bushido.” They strictly followed the rules of a samurai or “bushido” which included courage, respect, self-control and righteousness, which means doing the right thing. In battle, the Samurai were taught to never surrender or back down, to continue fighting even when they were losing and to have courage even in the most fearful moments.

In 1582, a man named Oda Nobunaga was born to a powerful daim-yo in the Owari region. Growing up, Nobunaga was trained as other samurai to fight with the bow and arrow, sword, and learned to discipline himself after the “bushido,” the way of the samurai. After his father passed away, Nobunaga and his brothers fought to rule the clan and Nobunaga became the new leader. But he wasn’t content leading one clan, he wanted to grow the clan’s power and began conquering other clans nearby. He was a skilled military leader and organized his soldiers and samurai in a way that continued to win until he ruled many other clans. Nobunaga also made alliances with other powerful clans. An alliance is an agreement that they will work together. And eventually Nobunaga’s clans and alliances brought all of the clans together. Nobunaga eventually became the leader of half the clans in Japan, also called a “shogun.” He built a beautiful castle on a lake and lived there during his rule. From there he continued to organize and strengthen his armies and make laws that he believed were in Japan’s best interest. The rule of a powerful Japanese leader was called a “shogunate” and his rule was followed by powerful leaders such as Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa. Under Hideyoshi, all of Japan was united under a single leader or “shogunate.” This led the way for a unified Japan up until the single country it is today. 

Back to the samurai – with Japan united, the different clans and their dime-yo leaders no longer fought for control. Because there was peace between clans, the samurai weren’t needed for fighting. Also, gunpowder and guns were introduced to Japan, so the army became made up of regular soldiers and swords were replaced with guns. The samurai became workers for the new Japanese government. They still followed the code of the Samurai but weren’t needed for battle and taught others about the “bushido” code and how to have self-control and respect for others. 

Some of the samurai who didn’t want to become peaceful government workers and who no longer were needed by the clans became leaderless. These wandering samurai became known as “Ronin” (row-nin) who often became bandits or soldiers for hire. In one of the most famous Japanese stories, 47 of these Ronin lost their master after he was murdered. They band together and seek after his murderer until they get revenge. This legendary story was made into plays and later movies and comic books called “47 Ronin.” 

As we’ve mentioned before, the way of the samurai, the special code they followed that made them samurai was called “bushido.” Without bushido, they wouldn’t have had the discipline to train and act with courage during the toughest moments of battle. Even though you aren’t a samurai, you can take the best things from the bushido code and apply them to your own life. As we talk about the principles of bushido, think about how you might use them each day.

The first principle of bushido was rectitude or justice. This meant to act in a way that made sense, was rational, even when it was very hard to do so. Also, to treat others with fairness and honor.

The second principle was courage, which means acting on what is right even when it is hard. A samurai was determined to act even under difficult circumstances. If you’ve ever done something hard, when it wasn’t easy, you’ve demonstrated courage. And courage doesn’t always come easy, it takes practice! Next time something challenging comes your way say to yourself, “I can have courage, I can do it!” With each courageous step you take, it can become easier.

The third principle of bushido was mercy. This means showing love to others and being able to forgive.

Fourth, politeness. To treat others with respect, have good manners, and say kind things. 

Fifth, honesty. We all know what that means. Telling the truth even when it’s not easy.

Sixth, honor. This meant showing personal respect. Respecting yourself and having patience. This means taking a deep breath when you might get upset and finding ways to work through problems by keeping a cool head, rather than getting angry and losing ones temper. 

Seventh, loyalty. To the samurai this loyalty to their leaders, usually the daim-yo. For you, this might mean listening to your parents or sticking up for your family, siblings, and friends, and being there for them when they need your help.

Finally, eighth, self control. One of the most important because it helps with all of the other principles. This means being able to manage your wants. There might be something you really want, but you can ask yourself if you really need it. It’s important to be able to tell the difference between wants and needs. Needs are things you do need, like good food and sleeping each day. Wants might be a toy or watching a movie, which can be fun at times but aren’t really necessary all the time. Next time you want something, but don’t really need it, try saying “no.” And you’ll find each time you strengthen that part of your brain that has self-control. Also, eating healthy and getting good sleep help with self-control. 

Those are the principles of bushido, the way of the samurai. Like I said, think of ways you can incorporate these good teachings and others into your own life to have the strength of a samurai!

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Have you seen the movie Coco? If so, do you remember the song “Remember Me”? It goes “Remember me, though I have to say goodbye. Remember me, don’t let it make you cry. For even if I’m far away, I hold you in my heart, I sing a secret song to you each night we are apart.” It’s the song that made the singer Ernesto de la Cruz famous (even though he did get smashed by the giant bell!). That’s what we all want, we all want to be remembered by our family and friends. The movie Coco is about a holiday in Mexico called Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead. It is all about remembering the ancestors and loved ones that have passed on before us. This holiday is a celebration that shows death is not the end of our relationships, that our loved ones continue to be a part of our lives as we remember them. 

The beginning of Dia de los Muertos goes way back to the Aztec people who lived in what is now central Mexico hundreds of years ago. The Aztec didn’t consider death the end of existence, instead they saw it as the next stage in life. At the time, they used skulls to honor their own dead relatives thousands of years before modern celebrations began. By the 1500s, Europeans had discovered the Americas and the Spanish explorers found the Aztecs. Battles between the two people led to the Aztecs being conquered by the Spaniards. The new rulers brought with them their Catholic faith. Often what happens in places like Mexico is holidays change based on the latest religion. This is just what happened with Dia de los Meurtos as the celebrations of the native people became a Catholic holiday named All Saints Day and All Souls Day. Still today, November 1^st is Dia de los Inocentes (which celebrates children) and November 2^nd is Dia de los Muertos (which celebrates adults). The parties and festivities sometimes start the day before on October 31^st. During the Days of the Dead, it’s believed that the dead can leave the spirit world and visit loved ones in the real (or mortal) world.

Have you ever made something to show a family member that you love them? This is one of the most important traditions that happens during Dia de los Muertos. Families build altars to honor family members. The Spanish word for “offering” is “ofrenda.” These ofrendas are very special and sacred, and is a tradition that is very respected. Families spend these days gathered around the ofrenda praying and telling stories about their dead ancestors. Sometimes ofrendas are set up in public spaces, like schools or libraries, but they are mostly seen in private homes for the family. Ofrendas have pictures of dead loved ones, along with their things from when they were alive and their favorite foods and drinks, for example. Because they believe the soul can be around during these days, the family makes it a place that the loved one would want to come and visit. During the festival, it is common for families to go to the cemetery to clean and decorate the tombstones of ancestors and set up an ofrenda there as well. Ofrendas and graves are usually decorated with Mexican orange marigolds, which today in Mexico is sometimes called “Flor de Muerto” (the Flower of the Dead). It’s believed these marigolds attract souls to the ofrendas, and that the bright petals with their strong smell can help guide souls from the cemetery to their families. 

Take a moment to think of your favorite holiday! Is there special food you enjoy that time of the year? Do you have a favorite food that you like to eat during that holiday? Dia de los Muertos is the same. Food is a huge part of Dia de los Muertos! Food is eaten by the living and given as an offering to the dead on ofrendas. A favorite food on this holiday is tamales. Another favorite is a sweet bread called Pan de Muerto. It is shaped like a bun and is topped with sugar. Drinks are a huge part of the holiday as well, with families enjoying the favorite drinks of their loved ones. Atole is a common drink for the adults, along with champurrado being drank by everyone, it is a warm and thick masa drink. A very popular herbal tea called Agua de Jamaica is also enjoyed, it is made from the flowers and leaves of the Jamaican hibiscus flower.

If I said, “Imagine a pumpkin,” which holiday comes to your mind?  Something that helps you remember or think of something else is a symbol. What other holidays can you think of a symbol for? The most well-known symbol for Dia de los Muertos is the calavera, or the skull. They are used everywhere, from masks to chocolate to sugar skulls! Traditionally sugar skulls are made to represent the soul of the deceased loved one. The colorful design represents their personality, and the name is written on the forehead. They are placed on the family’s ofrenda and sometimes taken to the cemetery and placed by the grave of the loved ones. Sometimes the Pan de Muerto is formed into the shape of a skull and decorated with white frosting to look like twisted bones.

Being a kid during Dia de los Muertos is a lot of fun! In some parts of Mexico, especially the bigger cities, kids go door to door and ask people on the streets for calaveritas. Calaveritas are small gifts of money or candy. The tradition is like trick or treating in the United States. Kids also get to help build the ofrendas for their ancestors. After the ofrenda is built, kids and families go to the cemetery for a big party. A delicious feast is eaten while the family cleans tombstones, tells stories, talks to ancestors, and sings songs. Here kids get to learn more about their family members who passed on before they were born.

At the heart of all the fun and excitement of Dia de los Muertos, is the fact that the holiday is really about remembering and honoring those in our families who have passed on. By remembering them, we make sure our loved ones still have a place in our lives. We also make sure these memories are shared with the next generation. It’s a wonderful celebration that should be honored and respected. If you decide to use some of the Dia de los Meurtos traditions with your own family, take some time to do your own research and learn more about it, so you can do it according to tradition. If you were to build an ofrenda for someone in your family this year, who would be on it and what stories would you tell?

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Have you ever gone camping? When you camp, you’re usually in a place where there isn’t wifi or cell reception, or even electricity. You have to figure out ways to entertain yourself that don’t involve movies, TV, or the internet. If you haven’t been in that situation, take a moment to imagine what you would do. You could take a walk and explore nature, read a book, or play a board or card game. 

But what about when it gets dark? If you’ve been camping, you know that once it’s dark, you can’t really do any of those things easily. Instead, you might build a fire and take turns telling stories– stories about your past, characters you’ve made up, or even ghost stories. 

If you’ve had this experience, then you know something about the topic of today’s episode. Today, we’re going to talk about how people entertained themselves, and learned, before there was electricity for things like lights, cellphones, and TVs. Before there were many books. And, in some cases, before there was even writing. Although humans have had writing for thousands of years, until the last few hundreds of year, most people in the world couldn’t even read. Books were also expensive and hard to find for a very long time, so even if you could read, you probably wouldn’t own a lot of books. 

Instead, people told each other stories. People have probably been telling stories to each other for as long as they’ve been talking. Since humans have always lived in groups, the really good stories would be told over and over again. They would be passed down from parents or grandparents to children, generation after generation. And over time they would change. Each person who told the story might add their own details, while keeping the basic plot and characters in place. Every culture in the world has stories that are passed down orally, which means they are telling them by speaking and by memory. Some stories are written down later, but many never are.  

Today we call this “oral tradition.” The “oral” part means it’s spoken–not written down– and the “tradition” part means it’s something that people pass down from generation to generation over a long time.  But this is just a modern way of talking about something that people have been doing for tens of thousands of years. 

We also just call it “storytelling.”

As you probably know, people still do this, any time someone tells a story from memory, without reading it from a book. Maybe it’s one that they’ve made up. Maybe they heard someone else tell it. Maybe their great-great-great- grandmother was the first to tell it, and it was so good, the family has been telling it to their children ever since.  

Many religious stories were passed down as oral traditions for hundreds of years before being written down. Many people today still memorize and re-tell them, even though they’re written down. The Christian Bible, the Jewish Torah, the Hindu Vedas – all of these religious teachings were passed down by people who memorized them and re-told them to the young in their families or communities. They wanted to keep the stories about their beliefs and morals alive.   

Families have their own stories as well. Some families have stories about a great-grandparent or aunt or other ancestor who did something exciting or remarkable, and these stories might be passed down orally too. 

Often, traditional stories would start out as real history. Imagine listening to a live Bedtime History podcast while sitting around a campfire!  A war would be fought, or a king would rule wisely and make sacrifices for his people. People who lived through the actual events would tell their families about them. As time went on, the children would grow and tell the stories to their children and grandchildren. 

Different storytellers would add things. They might change things in order to teach a lesson. A god might come into the story to help the wise king, or punish a bad ruler. A war might last ten years instead of two and start because of a quarrel between the gods. Magic and miracles would make their way in.

These stories would grow more exciting and fantastic over the years. There would be arguments between gods and people. Heroes would go on daring voyages and fight evil monsters. They would become stronger or larger than real-life people. They were a lot like the superheroes you find in comics or movies now. In fact, gods and heroes that started out in traditional stories do come up in modern superhero movies – Thor and Loki from the Marvel universe were originally Norse gods! Just like in the Marvel-universe, the same characters would come up again and again. They’d have their own habits and personalities. They would repeat the same mistakes. People would get to know them as if they were real.

But these stories didn’t just talk about history made by humans. Many traditional stories tell about the land and our planet as well. They tell people how to find food or water and survive where they live. Sometimes, stories talk about meteors, floods, and volcanic eruptions. Many of you have probably heard the story of Noah’s ark and the flood in the bible. This isn’t the only story about a flood though. The ancient Mesopotamians, who lived in what is now Iraq, had a story about a giant flood too. It’s part of the story of the hero-king Gilgamesh. The ancient Chinese, Native Americans, Australian Aborigines, and many other cultures also have flood stories.  

Some traditional stories talk about specific natural events in Earth’s past. The Klamath people, a Native American tribe from the northwestern United States, have a story about how a specific mountain lake formed. The story tells about a god who lived under a mountain, who wanted to marry a woman from a nearby village. When she refused him, he began raging, throwing rocks and fire out of the mountain. Finally, another god helped the village people by pushing the mountain god and his fire back down under the ground, leaving a deep crater that became a lake. 

Stories like this give us an idea about how long oral traditions can be passed down. The lake, which is in Oregon, is now called Crater Lake. Scientists have discovered that the eruption that created the lake happened over 7 thousand years ago. It hasn’t erupted again since, which means this story may have been passed down from generation to generation for a very long time!

Often, a person in a community had a job to memorize and tell stories. These storytellers, sometimes called bards or rhapsodes, did their best to make the stories interesting and exciting. Sometimes, they would dance, wear masks, act out the action, or clown around while telling the stories. 

You may be wondering how on earth a storyteller could remember so many stories without writing them down. Today, we are very used to having things written down. Reading and writing are part of school, and we’re told they are very important skills. And they are. But in the past, before writing was invented, and then before most people could read, memory was just as important. People had to be able to remember a lot of information just to be able to survive – to find food and water, and make shelters. Stories helped them do this, and they also helped people learn about their culture’s history and beliefs. 

Still, some stories that were passed down orally were very long! Many of these stories were told as poems. They are often called epic poems. For the most part, the stories that went into these poems weren’t told all at once, and one bard probably wouldn’t memorize all of them. But still, many did memorize poems as long as books. 

Telling the stories as poems made them easier to memorize, because poems have a regular rhythm. Sometimes they were even set to music. They would also repeat certain lines over and over. For example, an epic poem might always describe the sunrise on a new day with a particular line, such as:

  Dawn stretched her rosy fingers over the sea.

A line like this might be in several different stories, and be repeated many times in one story. All this would help others remember as well, so they could go on to tell the stories later. 

Many stories have been collected and written down as epics. A Finnish epic poem called the Kalevala was told for hundreds of years before being written down in the 19th century. It tells the traditional Finnish myth of the creation of the earth and the life of the first man.

The most famous epics are probably the poems the Iliad and the Odyssey, from ancient Greece. The Iliad tells the story of a war the Greeks fought over a woman named Helen, who was said to be the most beautiful in the world. It focuses on the hero Achilles, who must put aside his argument with a friend in order to help win the war. The Odyssey tells the story of the journey another king, Odysseus, took to get home after the war. Both of these poems are hundreds of pages long.

But that’s nothing compared to the longest epic poem! That title goes to the Mahabharata, from India. It tells the story of a war between two royal families that took place in the 8th or 9th century BCE, and was written down in the 4th century BCE. Can you guess how long it was? The length of a poem is usually talked about in terms of number of lines. The Mahabharata is over one hundred thousand lines! As a book, that’s close to one thousand pages.

Every culture on Earth has its own set of stories that has been passed down over hundreds, if not thousands of years. The Australian Indigineous people have traditional stories about their coasts being flooded as the last ice age ended about 10 thousand years ago. Stories of a Swahili hero-king named Liyongo have survived since the middle ages. Many fairy tales that you likely know, like Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel and Gretel come from German stories that were passed down orally for a long time before being written down. These are just a few examples – there are hundreds more!

Take a few minutes to think about someone important to you who’s lived a lot longer than you. Maybe a parent or grandparent, a neighbor or a teacher. Take some time soon to sit down with them and ask them to tell you a story about what things were like when they were young. You might ask about an important event that they lived through, or how they played when they were children, what their house was like or if they had any pets. You never know what you’ll learn! Maybe when you get older, you can tell your children or grandchildren these stories. Or, you might like them so much, you decide to write them down. You will be continuing the oral tradition, but more importantly, you will hear some wonderful stories and be entertained and learn from them, too!

Sources

https://scroll.in/article/806662/the-mahabharata-how-an-oral-narrative-of-the-bards-became-the-didactic-text-of-the-brahmins

https://africanpoems.net/epic/introduction-to-epics/

https://www.britannica.com/topic/oral-tradition

Nunn, Patrick, 2018. The Edge of Memory: Ancient Stories, Oral Tradition and the Post-Glacial World. Bloomsbury Sigma, London. 

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2015/marchapril/feature/how-the-grimm-brothers-saved-the-fairy-tale

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Who was Siddhartha Gautama?

Imagine you’re a prince or a princess, living in a giant, luxurious palace. There your parents make sure that you have everything you could ever want or need: lots of toys, fine clothes, and the best education. You’re surrounded by beautiful gardens and expensive things. You have servants to clean up after you, bring your food, and help with everything. When you’re not learning from private tutors, you spend your days swimming, practicing archery and swordsmanship, and riding horses. The palace is so massive, it’s your entire world and you never even need to leave. 

Now imagine you decide to give that all up. You’re not happy with that life. You wonder if life has a greater meaning. You wonder if possessions can ever make people truly happy and content. This was the life Siddhartha Gautama found himself in. You might have heard of him: now, we call him Buddha. 

What was the Buddha’s real name?

The story of how Siddhartha became Buddha begins even before his birth. Siddhartha’s father was king of a small kingdom in northern India in the sixth century BCE over 2,500 years ago!  Several years before Siddhartha was born, the king was visited by sages, or wise men, who told him his son would be either a great king or a great holy man. Of course, Siddhartha’s father wanted his son to follow in his footsteps and be a great king.  So when Siddhartha was born in 567 BCE, his father decided to shelter his son from the world, so he wouldn’t know about suffering and death. He thought that if Siddhartha never saw bad things in the world, he wouldn’t want to fix them, and so he wouldn’t want to become a holy man. 

Buddha’s Early Life

So Siddhartha grew up surrounded by all the comforts and privileges money could buy. When he became a young man, he married a woman named Gopa. He seemed to have it all, but the plan Siddhartha’s father made for him to become a great king was about to fall apart. Instead of accepting the life of luxury that he was given, Siddhartha grew restless living in the palace. One day, he asked his father to let him go on a chariot ride to see the city around the palace. His father agreed but told the chariot driver to stay in the richer parts of the city, close to the palace, to avoid letting Siddhartha see people who were poor or suffering. 

Siddhartha set out in the chariot with his driver. Before long, they saw an old man, slowly hobbling along the road, looking as if he might fall over at any moment. Siddhartha had never seen such an old man, and he asked his driver what was wrong with him. 

His driver replied, “He is very old. His body has grown weak with age. You too will grow old someday. All people do.”

Siddhartha was disturbed but asked him to drive on. Later in the ride, they saw a sick man lying by the side of the road. He was groaning and looked very unhappy. Again, Siddhartha asked what was wrong with the man. 

His driver replied, “He is sick with a terrible disease. Everyone gets sick sometimes. Someday, you will get sick.”

Siddhartha felt terrible, seeing this man suffering, but they continued their ride through the city. 

On their way back to the palace, they came across a funeral procession. People were crying and moaning. For a third time, Siddhartha asked his chariot driver what was happening.

Again, his driver replied. “Someone has died, and these people are his friends and family. They are mourning for him.”  

When Siddhartha returned home, he could not stop thinking about the old man, the sick man, and the funeral. He thought about these things happening to his father and mother, to his wife, and to himself. He realized that all the treasure in the palace, all the servants waiting on him, and all the beautiful things surrounding him, could not prevent him or anyone else from the sad things he said. He realized that he wanted to find a way to help people overcome suffering. 

Siddartha’s Personal Journey

Once he realized these things, Siddhartha knew he could no longer live an easy life in the palace. So one day, he said goodbye to his family and set out to find the cause of suffering. He cut his hair and lived as an ascetic – someone who chooses to live in poverty and simplicity. He studied meditation with great holy men and discussed the problem of suffering with them, but after many years of living this way, he still didn’t know why it happened, or how he could prevent it.

Finally, he decided to sit and meditate under a bodhi tree. He vowed not to leave until he had the answer to the problem of human suffering.  Siddhartha sat meditating day and night, still and calm as a statue, for six days. On the sixth day, he opened his eyes and realized he understood the nature of suffering. He became enlightened and from then on was known as Buddha, which means awakened one. 

Buddha’s Four Noble Truths

For the rest of his life, Buddha traveled throughout India, teaching others about what he had discovered. He taught people the four noble truths he had realized about suffering.

The first truth is that everyone suffers and has hard things happen to them. It’s just part of life. 

The second truth is that we suffer because we are always wanting more, and trying to hold onto what we have. This might sound surprising. Didn’t he start his quest because he saw people who were suffering because they were old, sick, and dying? Buddha thought that the real reason we suffer is not that bad things happen to us, but because we allow negative feelings and desires to take over our thinking. If we’re sick, we lie around feeling sorry for ourselves and wishing we were well. But then when we’re healthy, we think of other things we want but don’t have, and we still suffer. 

Think about a time when you really wanted a new toy or game. It probably felt very unfair that you didn’t have it, and then, if you did get it, you might have been happy for a short time, but then you were just back to normal and wanted something new. We become attached to things, or even ideas of things, and those things are not permanent. This keeps us spending all our time wanting things we don’t have, and worrying we’ll lose what we do have. He taught that things like toys and games and other things we might buy don’t really make us happy deep down and any happiness we do feel doesn’t last.

The third truth is that we can overcome suffering. Once we overcome suffering, Buddha thought, we could reach a state of nirvana, or perfect peace and happiness, just as he did when he meditated under the bodhi tree. 

Finally, the fourth truth tells us how to overcome suffering. The way Buddha thought we overcome suffering is by following what he called the “eightfold path.” I won’t go over all eight parts of the path, but basically, to follow the eightfold path, we must always try to improve ourselves: this means being kind and honest; try not to harm anyone or anything; and acting with compassion. We must also learn to pay attention to our own thoughts. As we pay attention to our thoughts we can better understand the thoughts that make us feel sad. This helps us think in a new way. This paying attention to our thoughts is called meditation.

Karma

Buddha taught that following the eight-fold path creates good karma.  Karma is the idea that everything you do has a consequence, whether good or bad. Kind actions tend to have positive consequences, and unkind actions, have negative consequences. This isn’t a consequence like a reward or a punishment – it’s just a thing that happens as a result of an action. He taught that by building up a lot of good karma, you can reach nirvana, a state of true enlightenment. 

Buddha spent the rest of his life traveling around India, teaching what he had discovered to anyone who wanted to learn. He encouraged his followers to try out the practices he taught for themselves, to see how well they worked, and to gather in communities to learn and help each other. The community was important because Buddha knew that to be truly happy, people need to feel compassion and kindness for both themselves and others. This is called metta in Buddhism.

Buddhism

After its beginnings in India, Buddhism spread throughout South and East Asia and was practiced widely in Tibet, Bhutan, Thailand, China, and Japan, among others. Today, people around the world practice Buddhism in different forms. For some, it’s a religion, but for others, it’s simply a way of looking at life.

Meditation

As Buddha taught, you can take the time to meditate each day. Meditating is a good chance to breathe deeply and slow your thoughts. It can also help you look closely at your thoughts. Your thoughts often lead to how you’re feeling. So if you have lots of negative thoughts those may be causing negative feelings. Breathing deeply and clearing your mind can give you the positive energy you need to help yourself and help others. There are a lot of great ways to start meditating. You can find videos, podcasts, and apps, that can get you started. But the simplest way is to just set a timer and try and sit and relax during that time while breathing deeply. 

What can I learn from Buddha?

Also, like Buddha taught, remember that things that we buy won’t always make us happy. Toys eventually break, or they go out of fashion, and we’ll always want something new. Think about how you might turn your attention to more important things like spending time with your family and friends, learning something new, or doing good for others. These are things that last longer and will give you greater, deeper joy.   

I hope you enjoyed this episode about Buddha. Be sure to check in next Monday for a new episode!

Sources

Fields, Rick. “Who Is the Buddha?” in: Tricycle, Spring 1997. https://tricycle.org/magazine/who-was-buddha-2/

Meyers, Rachel. Curiosity Chronicles: Snapshots of Ancient History. Little Monster Schooling, 2017.

Nagaraja, Dharmachari. Buddha at Bedtime.Watkins, 2016.

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Have you heard ever heard of a country called India? India is between China and the Middle East and much of it is surrounded by the Indian Ocean. India is home to one of the world’s oldest civilizations and for many years was one of the richest countries in the world. Over one billion people live in India. It has more people than any other country in the world, second only to China. 

In the 1800s the British Empire ruled many countries of the world including America. During the American Revolution the Patriots fought off the British King and his soldiers and became their own free country. At the time of our story the British Empire was still in control of India. This is the story of how India came to be free and the man who helped make it happen.

In 1869 in the city of Porbander, India a boy named Mahandas Ghandi was born in a small home to a simple family. The Ghandis were good people. The father was a leader in the city and his mother was a very religious woman. She taught her children to pray and read scriptures such as the Bhagavad Gita, the Vegas, and some texts from the Bible and Quaran. The Ghandis were Hindu, so they didn’t drinking wine or eat meat. Ghandi’s mother also taught the family to fast — which means going without food for a certain period of time. She believed it gave them strength and self control. 

When Mahandas was little he was very playful and sometimes liked to cause trouble. Often he would chase down dogs and twist their ears. He also loved to listen to classic Indian stories, such as the stories of Shravan and Harischandra, which were epic tales about virtue and adventure. These stories taught good principles and helped Mahandas want to be a good person.

At age nine Mahandas started school and there learned math, history, language and geography. He was just an okay student and pretty shy and had trouble speaking. This made him very nervous when he had to speak in front of his class, but he did like books and learning.

At this time in India people got married very young. Mahandas was 13 when he married a girl named Kasturba. When Kasturba was 17 they had their first baby, but sadly she didn’t live very long. This same year Mahandas also lost his father, so it was a very hard time for him. But later Mahandas and Kasturba had four more children, so it made them happy to be parents.

Next Ghandi decided to travel to London, the capital of the British Empire, to go to college to become a lawyer. A lawyer is someone who helps others work with the law, the rules that keep a country in order. Ghandi’s parents were worried while he was there he wouldn’t live his religion, that he would eat meat and drink alcohol and do other things they didn’t approve of. But when he left he promised them he would stay faithful no matter what. And Ghandi did live up to his word, he stayed strong in his Hindu religion while he was away from home. This is called commitment and dedication to something you believe in.

Ghandi learned a lot about the English people while he was in London. He had always been shy and at first school was difficult, but instead of giving up he joined a group that taught him how to speak louder and more clearly and with lots of practice he became a very good speaker.

After finishing college, Ghandi got a job working for a shipping company in South Africa. At this time the British Empire also ruled South Africa. In South Africa Ghandi was treated badly by the English because he was from India. Once when he was on a train they didn’t let him sit with other people. They picked him up and threw him off the train. Ghandi was so upset by this he refused to leave the train station until they let him on the next train. This is called a protest. Finally, they let Ghandi back on the train. Many times Ghandi was treated badly because he was from India. He started to think England shouldn’t be in control of India anymore. 

When Ghandi moved back to India and he was determined to do everything he could to make India a free country. He began speaking and writing about what the India people needed to do to become free. But Ghandi was a peaceful person and didn’t believe in hurting others to become free. Instead they would peacefully protest and use civil disobedience — which means finding other ways to make your point other than violence. 

One thing England did to control India was tax the things they bought, this meant charging extra for food and clothes and keeping the money. So instead of buying clothes and salt from England, Ghandi decided to make his own clothes and salt. He learned how to make his own clothes and started wearing them. Thousands of other India people started doing the same. This made the British upset, because they were losing money. To make his own salt, Ghandi began a journey to the ocean. He walked over 200 miles to make salt in the ocean. People all over India followed him and did the same. All across the world people saw what Ghandi and the India people were doing and sympathized with them. Ghandi was put in jail many times for his actions. He would go without eating until they would set him free. What Ghandi was doing was very difficult, but he was sacrificing his owns desires for the country and people he loved.

Sometimes the Indian people wanted to use guns and weapons to fight the British leaders, but Ghandi continually taught that this was the wrong way. He used scriptures of many different religions to show that peace was a better way. When his people did start to fight Ghandi would go without eating for many days until they stopped. The people often stopped because they loved Ghandi and didn’t want him to be hungry.

Eventually, England let India become free. The amazing part of this story is that it came about without a big war and lots of people dying. This was truly a miracle and Ghandi showed the world that freedom can come about through peaceful ways. The Indian people and Ghandi celebrated. They were so happy to be in control of their own country. The time after this was very challenging as they figured out how to be on their own, but it gave them a chance to make their own choices and be a free people.

Not long after India became free Ghandi passed away, but his mission was complete and the Indian people and people all across the world will remember him as someone who loved his people and gave his life for them.

In life it’s easy to focus on yourself and what makes you happy. Its natural for us to want to take care of ourselves, which is important to some degree. But giving of ourselves to help others is also very important. It’s important to share and to think about what makes others happy. Spend some time thinking about what makes others happy and then do something about it. Next time you have a treat think about how happy it will make others to taste it, too. If you are playing with a toy, think about how your brother or sister or friend might enjoy playing with it. 

Ghandi believed in being peaceful. Next time someone wants to fight with you or argue, think about a more peaceful way you can deal with the problem. You never know, in the end someone who you think is an enemy might become a friend.

The post History of Mahatma Gandhi for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

In 2005, a surfer named Bethany Hamilton won the National Scholastic Surfing Association National competition. Fifteen-year-old Bethany absolutely destroyed the competition in the Explorer Women’s final. She accepted her award at the competition dinner to 500 people standing and clapping for her. Bethany thanked God and her coach, Ben Aipa, for helping her win.  

After winning third-place in the Open Women’s surfing competition in 2003, the world knew it was only a matter of time until this special girl achieved Nationals gold. What they didn’t know was the amazing journey that Bethany would take on her way to finally winning gold.

Bethany Meilani Hamilton was born on February 8, 1990, in Hawaii. She began surfing at the age of 8 and gained her first sponsorship by age 9. Bethany was home-schooled from 6th grade through high school by her mother, who was a stay-at-home mom. Her father worked as a server at a town cafe.

In October 2003, after having placed 3rd in the Open Women’s division earlier that year, Bethany’s life changed forever. Bethany went for a morning surf with her best friend Alana, Alana’s father, and her brother. There she was attacked by a shark and lost her left arm just below the shoulder. 

Her friends helped paddle her back to shore. Then Alana’s father made a tourniquet out of a rash guard and wrapped it around the bottom of her arm. She was rushed to the hospital and a doctor living in a hotel nearby raced to the rescue. 

During later interviews, she said that she felt normal when she was bitten and felt very little pain from the bite at the moment of the attack, but felt it go numb on the way to the hospital and she ultimately lost her entire arm during the surgery that saved her life.

Despite what happened, Hamilton was determined to start surfing again. One month after the attack, she got back on her board. First, she used a custom-made board that was longer and slightly thicker than standard and had a handle for her right arm, making it easier to paddle. She learned to kick more to make up for the loss of her left arm. 

After teaching herself to surf with one arm, she returned to surfing on November 26, 2003, just 26 days after the attack. She entered her first major competition on January 10, 2004. She now uses normal short boards to compete.  

The shark-bitten surfboard that Hamilton was riding during the attack, as well as the bathing suit she was wearing at the time, are on display at the California Surf Museum in Oceanside, California.

Even though she lost her arm, Bethany has had an impressive career with numerous 1st place awards. But more important than the medals is her story of overcoming such tragedy where many would have given up.

Bethany’s story has been turned into multiple books, including a few written by her. She has appeared on many tv shows, magazine articles and in 2004 was named the Best Comeback Athlete and also received the Courage Teen Choice award.  

The last two books written by Bethany were based around the theme of being unstoppable. One of her books is named “Be Unstoppable: The Art of Never Giving Up” and has inspired readers to be bold, enjoy life, and trust God each day. Bethany is very devout in her religious beliefs and is always quick to share them.

Bethany married her then-boyfriend Adam in 2013 and together they have three sons, Tobias, Wesley, and Micah. The family still lives in Hawaii where they surf and spend time together. Her kids all know about the attack in 2003 but she has used this as an important lesson for them on staying strong.

Bethany has always given her time and money to help others, including her own foundation, Friends of Bethany. Her foundation reaches out to amputees and youth, encouraging them to overcome difficulties by offering hope and encouraging them to have faith. 

Within the Friends of Bethany Foundation there are four different programs:

1. Beautifully Flawed: retreat designed for young women ages 14–25 who have experienced traumatic limb loss.
2. Shine Forth: Night filled with stories and inspiration to overcome, free community event to gather together and share comeback stories.
3. Anchored in Love: Conference for girls and young women ages 12 and up, a one-day event designed to help girls and young women discover their true beauty, purpose, and worth. 
4. The Forge: Men’s retreat where young male amputees come and focus on faith, fitness, and healthy living.

Bethany has done so many amazing things in her career as a surfer despite the adversity she had to overcome. She never stopped, she never gave up, and she never stayed scared. She knew that she had to start surfing again right away because she wasn’t going to let the shark attack take anything else away from her.

She’s used her position as a professional athlete to promote living a fit and healthy lifestyle and to inspire other young athletes and amputees that anything was possible for them in life if they just didn’t stop.

Everyone in life will face many setbacks, but it is how we react to these setbacks that define us. Do we stop moving or do we remain unstoppable? We all need to be more like Bethany, we need to be strong and we need not let fear define who we are or we can become.    

Thanks for listening to this episode about Bethany Hamilton and be sure to tune in for a new episode next Monday.

The post Bethany Hamilton Story for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine yourself sitting around a large bonfire.  The year is 1621 and you have spent the last year travelling from Europe to America on a boat. The journey was very hard.  When you finally arrived in the “new world” you faced a very hard winter. You and your family lived on the boat through the winter, together with other passengers.  It was extremely cold and there was not much to eat.  But all of that has changed.  As you sit waiting, you see that people are cooking up a huge feast. You smell the cooking meat and vegetables. it makes your mouth water. The cooks include people from Europe that you were on the boat with, and Native Americans who have come to celebrate with you.  It is the first Thanksgiving celebration in America, and you are ready to eat!

Thanksgiving Day is a national holiday in the United States and other countries. But how did this holiday begin?  Where did it start and why?

The story starts in 1620 when a small ship named the “Mayflower” left from England. On board were 102 passengers.  They were all people from different religions that were feeling unwelcome in Europe.  They wanted to leave to find a new home where they could practice their religion freely.  There were also people onboard who were excited about the idea of buying land, which they couldn’t afford in Europe. They hoped to find a new life and become wealthy in the New World.

The Mayflower made a long and difficult journey across the Atlantic Ocean that lasted 66 days! Eventually, they landed at Cape Cod.  This was much further north than where they were hoping to land, which was at the mouth of the Hudson River. One month later, the Mayflower traveled to Massachusetts Bay and the travelers disembarked, or arrived and came ashore.  They decided to settle, or make a home, in the area and they began building a village, which is now called Plymouth.

The people who started building the settlement were called “pilgrims”.  Pilgrim means a traveler or settler in a new land. The pilgrims in Plymouth did not have time to build houses to live in before the first winter came.  The winter was very cold and harsh, so most of the pilgrims remained on the Mayflower ship for the winter. They were hungry and cold living on the ship. Many people developed scurvy, which happens when you don’t eat enough fruits or vegetables.  Many also caught diseases that spread easily amongst the crowded living conditions. 

By the end of the winter, only half of the Mayflower’s 102 original passengers were still alive. That spring, in March 1621, the people who were still alive moved off the boat and onto shore to start building their homes. While they were settling on shore, an Abenaki Native American came and greeted them in English. Everyone was shocked to see that he was friendly and that he spoke English. 

A few days later, he returned with another Native American man named Squanto.  Years before Squanto had been kidnapped by Englishmen and brought to England.  But he later returned to America and could now speak English. Squanto became friends with the pilgrims and could see that they needed help.  The small group of 50 or so people were all weak and starving and many of them were ill.  Squanto felt bad for them so he taught the pilgrims how to grow corn, how to fish in the rivers and how to extract sap from maple trees. 

Squanto also helped the pilgrim settlers to form an alliance with a local Native tribe, the Wampanoag. An alliance is a bond or union between two groups that pledge to support each other. 

Later that year, in the fall of 1621, the pilgrims’s first corn harvest was successful.  They had an abundance of corn and were able to eat.  The Governor of the group, William Bradford, organized a feast to celebrate the harvest.  He invited all the pilgrims in the community and their Native American allies, including the Wampanoag chief Massasoit. The feast lasted for three days.  While no one wrote down exactly what they ate, we do know that it was an amazing feast for the time, and likely included chicken, deer, corn, lobster, seal, shellfish, and possibly turkey. 

This fest is now remembered as America’s “first Thanksgiving”.  The pilgrim’s likely didn’t call it that, as they would not have known that this feast would turn into a holiday. They also played games and had fun during the three days with their guests.  They considered this celebration a way to give thanks to God and nature for the harvest and alliance with the Wampanoag people. 

The dishes that the pilgrims prepared were likely made using traditional Native American spices and cooking methods. The pilgrims did not have an oven and the sugar supply on the Mayflower had run out by the fall of 1621, so the meal did not include pies, cakes or desserts. But the people were happy to have a harvest meal and party and were happy that their nutrition and health had improved compared to last year — and mostly that they were still alive. That is a lot to be thankful for!

The pilgrims held their second Thanksgiving celebration in the fall of 1623. In the two years between, there had been a long drought.  A drought is a long period of time in which it doesn’t rain so everything dries up or doesn’t grow.  Because of the drought, there had been no harvest in the fall of 1622 and people were very hungry.  In 1623, the farming had been good again and they all celebrated as they had before. The practice of fasting, or not eating for a period of time, followed by having a large thanksgiving celebration started to become common practice in other New England settlements outside of Plymouth as well. 

Later, during the American Revolution, the government designated a couple of days of thanksgiving a year.  In 1789, George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation.In his speech, he asked Americans to show that they are grateful for the happy ending to the war of independence that Americans had just won and the new constitution, or written framework for the country’s rules, structure and order.  Other presidents after George Washington also designated a couple of days of thanksgiving to remember these events. 

In 1817, New York became the first state to have an official Thanksgiving holiday. After that, other states started adopting their own Thanksgiving holiday, with each one being celebrated on a different day. However, the tradition hadn’t spread to the south, and most southern states hadn’t heard of Thanksgiving holiday for a long time. 

One woman decided that she wanted to change this.  She wanted to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Her name was Sarah Josepha Hale.  She was a writer and wrote many articles and books and even wrote the song “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.   Sara started a campaign to make Thanksgiving a national holiday and she worked on this for 36 years!  A campaign is a planned effort to make something happen or change. She published articles in newspapers and sent letters to politicians.  Eventually her efforts paid off, when Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863. He scheduled it to be celebrated on the final Thursday in November. Sara was then known ever after as the “Mother of Thanksgiving.”

Thanksgiving was celebrated annually, or once a year, on this day until 1939.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week in order to help stores make more money during the Great Depression. However, people didn’t like the change, and so he ultimately moved it back to the original date in 1941.

Although the original Thanksgiving celebrations were to celebrate the end of the American war of independence and the new constitution, modern American Thanksgiving is quite different.  Now the celebrations center on cooking a turkey and sharing a large meal with family and friends. 

While turkeys are the main dish at most American households for Thanksgiving, it may not have actually been on the menu for the pilgrims’ first thanksgiving feast in 1621. Today, more than 90% of Americans eat turkey on Thanksgiving.  And there are many different ways that people prepare the bird. Most like to cook it in the oven. But some people deep-fry it or smoke it, or find a variety of other ways to make the turkey dish new and interesting.

Other traditional food that Americans eat at this holiday include stuffing or dressing, mashed potatoes, yams, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.  These are all foods that are “in season” at that time of year.  “In season” means that the fruits and vegetables used are ready to be harvested at that time. 

Another common tradition at Thanksgiving is volunteering.  Many Americans spend Thanksgiving Day doing volunteer activities in their communities.  These activities include holding food drives to collect food for the poor or hosting free dinners for people who are struggling. 

Parades have also become an important part of the Thanksgiving holiday in cities and towns throughout the United States.  One of the largest and most famous is the Macy’s department store parade in New York City.  This parade started in 1924 and was intended to give businesses a chance to celebrate the holiday and advertise their store at the same time.  Today, many Americans tune in on TV to watch the Macy’s parade at Thanksgiving.  The parade follows a 2 ½ mile route and features marching bands, performers, floats and giant balloons.

Starting in the 1950s, the president of the United States has a transition of “pardoning” one or two Thanksgiving turkeys each year.  This means that those 1 or 2 birds don’t get killed to be eaten, but instead get to go back to living on a farm for the rest of their lives.

Even though Thanksgiving is a modern American tradition, there are similar annual celebrations of harvest that take place all over the world and throughout history. In ancient times, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans all held large feasts to say thank you to their gods after the fall harvest.  Thanksgiving also has a lot in common with the ancient Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. And Native Americans have a long tradition of celebrating fall harvest with feasts and parties. These traditions are older than the American thanksgiving in 1621, so may have had an influence on the idea to hold a feast. 

Does your family celebrate Thanksgiving?  If so, what are some of your family’s traditions?  When you eat your holiday meal this year, think about the first American thanksgiving at Plymouth.  How do you think that would have been different?  What are some of the things that you are thankful for this year?  However you plan to celebrate, we at Bedtime History wish you a very happy Thanksgiving!  

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