Year 5’s RE Trip
Our trip to Bhaktivedanta Manor was a great success. The manor is a spiritual sanctuary spread over 78 acres of land with plentiful gardens, an organic farm, a protected herd of cows, a temple and a monastery.
On arrival, we split up into three groups to take turns visiting the various areas of the manor. Each group had a ride on the cart with oxen pulling us. The children learned lots of information from the driver about how the oxen are treated on the farm and how they help the community. Once they had climbed down, it was time to meet and feed the bulls and cows – much shrieking ensued and the children discussed the fact that cattle are considered sacred in Hinduism.
We also visited the different gardens where we heard stories about the importance of nature and the roots of the Hare Krishna philosophy, which we learned can be traced back 5,000 years to when one of the oldest books of wisdom, the ‘Bhagavad Gita’ was spoken. It was interesting to hear that one of our children also has this book at home and knew lots of the stories that it contained.
Once we had entered the manor building and removed our shoes, we assembled to learn about the Hindu Gods. Some children were chosen to dress up as the Gods and Alison (our teacher) told us stories about the Gods and Hindu beliefs. All of the children and teachers then enjoyed dressing up in traditional Hindu clothing.
Lunch was served next and consisted of paneer and vegetable curry, basmati rice, chapattis, Indian crackers and chips. This delicious food gave us the energy we needed to take part in an Indian Dance workshop before a story and our journey home.
