Diwali 2015 - The Hindu Festival of Lights

Diwali also known as Deepavali, Dipavali, Dewali, or Deepawali, or the Festival of Lights, marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year. It is celebrated on the 15th of Kartika (October/November) in the Hindu calendar. Diwali celebrations can last for about five days. This year it will start on 11th November. 

On Monday 9th November some of our students who celebrate Diwali will share with us some of the activities that Hindu love to do during this festival week such as tasting Indian sweets, designing Rangoli patterns and listening to The Story of Rama and Sita.

Diwali celebrations in Auckland on Sunday night! Did you go?

Ni hao! Celebrate NZ Chinese Language Week

This is a younger Cathy Wang wearing a traditional Chinese dress.

Green tea, native to China, is one of the world's healthiest teas.

This is the Dongfang dance group that performed at Sunnynook.

Have a go at learning Chinese language. Click on this link!

Mālō e lelei - Celebrate Tongan Language Week

At the time of the last census there were 50 000 New Zealanders who identified as Tongan. Currently, there are more Tongan people born in New Zealand than there are in Tonga, giving lea faka-Tonga (the Tonga language) and anga faka-Tonga (Tonga culture) a special place here. Tonga Language Week / Uike Kātoanga’i ‘o e lea faka-Tonga gives students of all ethnicities the chance to learn some basic lea faka-Tonga, and gives students who speak lea faka-Tonga the chance to be experts in the classroom.

So you want to count in Tongan! The basic level of counting in Tongan is easier then you think. All you have to do is learn the numbers 0-10 then you can count from 1-99. Follow these simple rules.

Counting 1-99 in Tongan

• numbers 0-9 noa, taha, ua, tolu, fā, nima, ono, fitu, valu, hiva
• the number for 10 is hongofulu (hoh-ngoh-foo-loo)
• the number for 100 is teau (teh-ah-oo)
• every other number is literally the words 0-9 combined: twenty becomes two zero – ua noa
• three exceptions to the rule 22, 55 and 99 words shortened to uo ua, nime nima, hive hiva

Online games for learning Tongan

International Peace Week

Room 1 shares their ideas on how we can promote peace

Te Wiki o Te Reo, Maori Language Week Celebration Assembly

Sunnynook Kapa Haka group perform (kapa = to form a line, haka = to dance)

R11 sing "Oma Rapeti"

R1 demonstrate Ti Rakau (Maori stick game)

Visit to the Ponsonby Masjid

Inside the mosque with the light and prayer mats facing Mecca

Our Board of Trustees member Melissa Powell and her daughter Anya wearing traditional a hijab or headscarf 

Prayer times for the Southern Hemisphere

Maori words and phrases of the day

NZ Herald website Maori words and phrases of the day