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Festivals1Festivals

National festivalsNational festivalsNational festivalsNational festivals

This festival is in the month of April.

It is an important festival of the

Sinhala and the Tamil people. They

make a lot of sweet meats, wear new

clothes and visit relatives at this

festival.

This is a very special festival to the

Buddhists. It is in May. People

decorate their houses with colourful

lanterns and paper streamers during

this festival.

This is the biggest festival of the

Muslim people. It is celebrated at the

end of the fasting period. They pray

at the mosque and enjoy good food

with friends and neighbours on this

day.

Christians celebrate this festival in

December. They decorate a tree with

beautiful lights and balloons and

keep it in the house at this festival.

People give presents to friends and

relatives on this day.

This is a colourful festival

celebrated by the Hindus. They light

oil lamps in their houses and wear

new clothes for this festival.

What are these festivals? Read and find out.

Ramazan Christmas

Deepavali Vesak

Sinhala and Tamil New Year

A

D

B

C

E

G

HF

National festivalsNational festivalsNational festivalsNational festivals

Festivals

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Festivals 2

What do people do at Diwali ?

Diwali is here again,

Diwali is here again,

Shining oil lamps,

One, two, three.

Lots of fireworks, lots of noise,

Lots of sweets for girls and boys,

Diwali is here again,

Diwali is here again,

Shining oil lamps,

One, two, three.

Match these words with the pictures:

oil lamps fireworks sweets noise

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Festivals3

Muslim festival days change every year.

Find the dates of the above festivals for this year from the calendar.

Complete these sentences and say them.

1. Milad-Un-Nabi is on the ............... of ............... this year.

2. Id-Ul-Alha is on the ............... of ............... this year.

3. Id-Ul-Fitr is on the ............... of ............... this year.

A festival that celebrates the

birthday of the Holy Prophet

(Peace be upon his name!).

A festival that celebrates

the end of the fasting

period.

Milad-Un-Nabi(Holy prophet’s birthday)

Id-Ul-Alha(Haj)

Id-Ul-Fitr(Ramazan)

A festival that

celebrates the

Haj pilgrimage.

D Here are the names of three important Muslim festivals.

D Match their names with the descriptions.

A B C

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Festivals 4

snowman Christmas card presents angelcandle sleigh

Jingle bells, jingle bells,

Jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride,

In a one horse open sleigh!

Dashing through the snow,

In a one horse open sleigh.

Over the fields we go,

Laughing all the way.

Bells on bob-tail ring,

Making spirits bright.

What fun it is to ride and sing,

A sleighing song tonight!

MerryChristmas!

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Festivals5

Find the past tense form of these verbs used in the dialogue.

Present

make

cut

tie

paste

Past

Amali : Look at the Vesak lantern I made.

Meena : It’s very beautiful. Tell me how you

made it.

Amali : First I cut some bamboo into equal

pieces.

Meena : How many pieces do you need?

Amali : Twenty-four pieces.

Meena : What did you do next?

Amali : I tied the ends of the bamboo sticks

and made six squares.

Meena : And then?

Amali : I tied the six squares together and

pasted on coloured tissue paper.

Meena : Did you cover all the sides with tissue

paper?

Amali : No, don’t cover the top and the

bottom.

Meena : Is that all?

Amali : To make it more beautiful I cut some

streamers and pasted them round the

bottom edge.

1111

2222

3333

55554444

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Festivals 6

You need : A piece of hard paper

colours, scissors

How to make : (1) Cut a 6” x 6” piece of paper.

(2) Fold it in the middle.

(3) Draw a picture on the outside of the left-hand page.

Colour it.

(4) Write your greeting on the inside of the right-hand

page.

(5) Write “From” and your name.

Wishing you a Happy Thai Pongal.

I wish you a very Happy New Year.

Happy Vesak to you!

Merry X’mas to you!

1

2

3

4

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Festivals7

No. 7

Araliya Road

Ambahena.

17th April, 2001

Dear Meena,

Thank you for the New Year greetings card. I received it yes-

terday.

We had a very exciting New Year’s Day this time. Our uncle

working in Dubai came home this year. He brought presents

for everyone. My mother prepared a lot of sweet meats like

kevum, kokis, aluwa and dodol for us to eat. We shared this

food with our neighbours. We wore new clothes and worshipped

our elders. We went to the temple in the morning. In the

afternoon we played games.

Our village New Year festival is on the 21st of April. Would you

like to come to see it?

With love

Amali

receive

prepare

sharewors

hip

play

received

prepared

sharedwors

hipped

played

D How did you celebrate your New Year’s Day?

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Festivals 8

Vesak

Ramazan

Christmas

Deepavali

Ramazan is a big festival. We

celebrate Ramazan at the end of

the fasting season. We make a lot

of tasty food on this day. We

share the food with our

neighbours.

- beautiful

- December

- decorate

- colourful

- May

- make beautiful lanterns

- go to the temple

- beautiful

- October

- light oil lamps

D Speak about the festivals you celebrate

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Festivals

Read and find

Look and say

LESSON

1UNIT 4

New Year? Ramazan? Thai Pongal? Christmas?

Festivals

Would you like to have some

Christmas cake?

We prepare it specially at Christmas.

Would you like to taste some laddu?

We prepare it specially at Thai Pongal.

Would you like to have some kevum?

It is specially prepared for the New

Year.

Would you like to taste this

watalappan?

It is specially prepared for Ramazan.

D What kinds of special food do people prepare for ...............

Guess the food items.

1. You need eggs, coconut milk and jaggery to prepare this. It’s very sweet.

2. You need flour, sugar and oil to prepare this. It’s prepared in hot oil.

3. You need flour, sugar, eggs and butter to prepare this. It is baked.

A B

C D

Festivals

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Festivals

Look and read

Practise

LESSON

2UNIT 4

Skirts, trousers, blouses, sarongs, sarees,

frocks, verti, salwar kameez, shorts, shirts, veils

They’re

It’s

too

small

for

him

big her

tight me

No. They’re

too long

for me.No. It’s too

short for me.

Do you like the

pair of shorts?Do you like

the skirt?

D How many of the following items of clothing can you see in the shop?

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Festivals

Read, find and match

LESSON

3UNIT 4

Find the matching picture and name the festival.

Two people are sitting on a wooden

pole above the ground. They are

facing each other. In one hand each

person has a pillow. The other hand is

held behind. They are hitting each

other with the pillows.

There is a big round drum supported

by three legs. Several women are sit-

ting round it. They are beating the

drum with their hands to a tune.

A group of people go round the village

singing at night. They are colourfully

dressed. One person is dressed like

an old man with a white beard. He

gives presents to the children.

A number of bullock carts are lined up

together. At a signal they start racing

as fast as they can. The bullock cart

that comes first wins the race.

Thai Pongal

Raban playing Pillow fightingBullock cart racingCarols singing

Sinhala and Tamil New YearChristmas

Match

D At which festivals do you see these things?

A B

DC

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Festivals

Read and find

LESSON

4UNIT 4

We celebrated Thai Pongal festival last week. We got

ready for the festival by cleaningand decorating the houses. On Thai Pongal day we wore newclothes. We made pongal rice by cooking rice with milk and jaggery.Thai Pongal is a harvest festival.

The second day of the festival iscalled Madu Pongal. On this day wetreat the bulls and cows speciallywell because they help us to get agood harvest. We bathe them and putgarlands of flowers round theirnecks.

Meena RajeshwariGrade 5 E

D Find out how pongal rice is prepared.

D What is the second day of Thai Pongal called?

Thai Pongal

Complete the sentences.

Pongal rice is prepared by ............... .

People treat the bulls and the cows well because ............... .

People ............... and ............... on Madu Pongal day.

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1. It’s Thai Pongal.

Meena’s mother has prepared laddu. (prepare)

2. It’s Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

Amali’s mother has made ……………………………… . (make)

3. It’s Ramazan.

Nizar’s mother …………………………………………… . (prepare)

4. It’s Christmas.

Roy’s mother …………………………………………… . (bake)

Festivals5

Thai Pongal? Christmas?Ramazan? Sinhala and Tamil New Year?

kevum and kokis a Christmas cakeladdu watalappan

D What special food have they made for ...............

A B C D

make

prepare

bake

has made

has prepared

has baked

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It’s the Christmas festival.

It’s the Sinhala and Tamil New Year.

It’s the Vesak festival.

It’s the Thai Pongal festival.

Festivals

Read and answer

Make sentences

LESSON

6UNIT 4

At this festival people cook a special

kind of rice mixed with milk and

jaggery.

This is a festival celebrated by both

Sinhala and Tamil people.

A religious festival at which people

decorate their houses with colourful

lanterns.

A religious festival. Many people keep

a tree decorated with balloons and

streamers in the house.

It’s held in January.

It’s held in December.

It’s held in May.

It’s held in April.

Today’s quiz programme is

about the national festivals.

I’ll read a description of a

festival. The competitors must

tell me the name of the

festival and when it is held.

It’s Thai Pongal

It’s held in ...............

It’s ...............

It’s ...............

It’s ...............

It’s ...............

It’s ...............

It’s ...............

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Practise saying

Festivals

Role play

LESSON

7UNIT 4

Happy Ramazan to you,

Happy Ramazan to you.

Happy Ramazan, dear Nizar,

Happy Ramazan to you.

Hello Nizar,

we’ve come to

wish you Happy

Ramazan.

Oh, it’s very

nice of you!

Please come

in and sit

down.

Mother, These are

my friends. They’ve

come to wish me

Happy Ramazan.

You are most

welcome. Nizar,

give them

something to

eat, please.

A B

DC

We’ve = We have They’ve = They have

This is very

tasty. What’s

it called?

It’s called

watalappan.

We prepare it

with eggs,

milk and

jaggery.

How do you

prepare it?

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Festivals

Read and role play

LESSON

8UNIT 4

Son, I am sorry to trouble

you on New Year’s Day.

I’m hungry. Can you give

me something to eat?

Please ask him

what he wants.

Father, there’s

an old man at

the gate.

Please come

into the house.

We have lots of

things to eat.

Mother, we have a

visitor. He’s hungry.

Can we share our

food with him?Thank you son.

Yes, of course we

can. What a good

thing on New

Year’s Day!

A B

C D

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