On Wednesday, Year 4 went on a faith tour to 3 different religious places. We went to a Gurdwara, a Mosque and a Church. At each place we met a nice person who told us about that religion. It was very fun and interesting and I learnt a lot of things I didn’t know.

Gurdwara

At the Gurdwara we met a Sikh man who told us all about the Sikh religion. He told us that Sikhs worshiped special teachers called Gurus who created Sikhism. There were 10 Gurus, starting with Guru Nanak. Guru Nanak decided to follow a certain way of life which he called Sikhism.He soon got other people to follow this way of life. The 10th guru whose name was Guru Gobind Singh, did 2 things. He completed Sikhism and made a special book called the Guru Granth Sahib. The religion of Sikhism isn’t that old, compared with some other religions. The Sikhs regard themselves as the lowest of the low, always think of God and are selfless. Sikhs can come to the Gurdwara to learn to be selfless or to read the Guru Granth Sahib. It takes 2 days to read and once someone has finished reading one bit another person who would have been sitting next to that person will read the next bit so they never stopped reading. Around the Guru Granth Sahib it was very exquisitely decorated and there was a blue canopy over it. I enjoyed learning about the Guru Granth Sahib a lot.                                                   

Mosque

A Mosque is an Islamic building where Muslims go to pray. When we got there we met another nice man who told us all about the Muslim religion. They have 5 pillars and each is a separate command. The 1st is to always follow Allah and The Prophet Muhammad who are important people to Muslims. Allah is God to Muslims and The Prophet Muhammad is one of his messengers and followers. The 2nd  is to always pray 5 times a day, once before sunrise, once at midday when the sun passes at its highest, once in the late part of the afternoon, just after sunset and between sunset and midnight. The reason the proper times aren’t listed is because the times change. The 3rd pillar is on the month of  ramadan you must fast for one month. Because the Muslim new year is 11 days later than our new year, ramadan always changes but it’s much easier in the winter.  The 4th pillar is to always give 2.5% of your money to a certain charity each year. And the 5th pillar is to visit Mecca or Medina which are the birthplace and resting place of The Prophet Muhammad once in their lifetime. I enjoyed learning about the 5 pillars a lot.

Church

The Church was very big and beautiful. As you will probably know a Church is a Christian building where Christians go to pray. When we got there we met a nice woman who told us all about Baptism and the Christian religion. An interesting fact about baptising is that an adult can also get baptised. When an adult does get baptised on the rare occasion there is a massive bath like a mini swimming pool which the adult climbs in to and they go under the water then they are baptised. When a baby is baptised they get a cross with holy oil drawn on their head. Then the priest makes some water holy and pours it on the baby’s head. Then they light a candle to lead the way into the future. Finally they get the reeds at the bottom of the font and sprinkle the water all over the people so they are welcomed into God’s family again. We had to find the charity which the church supported. It was called Swaziland Schools and helped schools in places like Africa to stay healthy. We also had time to look around the Church. I really enjoyed learning that there is a lot more to baptising than I thought there was.