Maybe rituals “aren’t your thing.”  Maybe they are.  Whatever your beliefs and lifestyle, the fact is that The Puja Ceremony is a key component to understanding Hinduism.  It’s how Hindus, for centuries, have connected with the Divine.  And it’s a vital element in almost all Hindu holidays – including Diwali – when the Lakshmi Puja takes center stage.

But how often do you see a 5-year-old (or an 8-or-10-year old for that matter) actually sit through a puja?  Maybe they don’t understand what’s going on.  Maybe all those Sanskrit hymns bore them.

This Diwali we encourage you to shake things up.  Adults:  sit back and let the kids take charge of the prayer ceremony with our Step-by-Step Diwali Puja Tutorial!  From the starting preparations to final aarti and prasad, our Tutorial instructs kids on what to do – and, more importantly, the meaning and purpose behind each step.  It’s The Puja – deconstructed and distilled to the essentials.  It’s learning by doing.

Of course, keep in mind the puja won’t be perfect (or very long), but the kids are sure to have fun being “in charge.”  And feel free to adapt the Tutorial – we set-up a very basic presentation, but you can insert special family traditions or longer mantras if you wish.

We hope our Tutorial will help kids connect with the more spiritual elements of one of Hinduism’s biggest holidays.

Happy Diwali!

Download & Print Tutorial here (4 pages): Printable PDFs

JPEGs:

Tags: Diwali

7 Responses to “A Special Diwali Puja…By Kids!”

1. Plummy Mummy Says:
   November 5th, 2010 at 9:37 am

   How wonderful!
   I was born into a Hindu household but my parents decided not to be too religious with us. This left a bit of a hole in my knowledge and I feel too shy to go into a temple to ask (also often find these are very unfriendly to the Hindu-who-doesn’t-know). I want to teach my daughter about these things so she can choose as she grows whether to follow the Hindu or Christian path (my husband is Christian). Your pdfs are just great for her and for me!
   Happy Diwali and Salmubarak

2. Aruna Says:
   November 10th, 2010 at 10:55 pm

   I hope you and your daughter enjoy them – and I don’t know all that much about Christianity, but I think you’ll find elements of the puja there as well (and in most religions) -e.g. the offering, invocation and the acceptance of “prasad” or sorts. It’s amazing and important to me to find these points of similarity and universality across different religions paths. Thanks for sharing!

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   November 12th, 2010 at 7:10 pm

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   September 17th, 2011 at 11:46 am

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6. Lakshmi Aarti Showcase Says:
   October 12th, 2011 at 10:04 am

   [...] don’t forget to involve your kids in your puja – you can use our immensly popular Diwali Puja Tutorial for Kids that we circulated last year, which will explain and guide them step-by-step through the puja [...]

7. magicalsummer Says:
   October 25th, 2011 at 10:40 am

   what a wonderful idea. growing up in convents and coming home to ‘not so big on religion’ parents, i’ve only started figuring things out for myself. my teenagers could do with a grown-up version of your puja guide, which i’m going to put together. thanks for the inspiration

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