Wesak Let's Celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate. #

Hello. Welcome to number 22, home to all kinds of festivals and parties.

-I'm Thomas Ticker...

-HE YAWNS

Excuse me. I had a terrible night's sleep.

I was really uncomfortable and when I woke up, my alarm had disappeared.

I can't imagine where it's got to. Anyway, come on, Ticker, wake up.

There's a celebration to be shown. Today's festival is called Wesak.

It's very special for Buddhists.

Shelin is going to show us all about it. Are you ready? Here we go.

Hi, I'm Shelin. I live with my mum and brother all the way up here.

We are Buddhists and we are getting ready to celebrate Wesak.

Wesak is a happy day where we think about the man who started Buddhism -

Buddha.

It was on the day of Wesak

that Buddha finally understood life's meaning.

We call this enlightenment.

THEY PRAY

My auntie and uncle have sent us a happy Wesak card from Sri Lanka.

I'm going to be kind and generous for my mum.

I'm going to make a happy Wesak card for her. Don't tell her.

It's going to be a surprise.

I'm using Bodhi tree leaves.

The Bodhi tree is very special to Buddhists.

Happy Wesak.

There. I think Mum's going to love it.

I'm going to hide it until tomorrow.

Sh!

We are going to our Buddhist temple now.

It's a very special place

for us and other Buddhists to come together to meet.

My family is from Sri Lanka,

but Buddhists from anywhere can come here.

Inside, it's very peaceful

with a wonderful shrine that has a big Buddhist statue.

We offer incense, flowers and candles to Buddha.

HE PRAYS

THEY PRAY

May our teachers be well, happy and peaceful.

May no harm come to them.

There's the monk.

He is teaching us to meditate.

Meditation is a time when we sit quietly and relax our minds.

Today we are getting ready for the Wesak celebrations.

I'm going to show you how to make this kind of lantern.

We're working together to make beautiful Wesak lanterns

out of bamboo sticks and tissue paper.

Buddhist teachings remind us that working together

and being kind to each other is really important.

And we make the Buddhist flag. The flag is made of different colours

and each one has a special meaning.

We'll carry the flag and lanterns

at the celebrations tomorrow.

It's time for me to go to bed now.

I can't wait until tomorrow to give this card to my mum.

Goodnight.

Ah, Shelin has just helped me realise where my alarm clock was -

under my pillow.

Just like the card Shelin made for her mum. No wonder I couldn't sleep.

I don't think I'll need a bedtime story tonight!

Ah, speaking of stories,

Buddhists tell stories which were once told by Buddha himself.

They're great! One of them is about an elephant

which became best friends with another animal.

Which animal do you think it is?

I'll tell you.

It's a dog!

It is believed, Buddha himself told the story

of the elephant and the dog many years ago.

These people are making the elephant in our story using sand.

This elephant was very important.

He belonged to the king and lived in great luxury.

He had lots of servants who worked hard

to make sure he had everything he needed.

Every evening, a little dog would join the elephant

and they would eat dinner together.

They were great friends.

But one day, a passing farmer saw the little dog and decided to buy him.

So the dog was taken away and the elephant became very sad and lonely.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

The king couldn't understand what was wrong with the elephant

so he called the doctor.

After examining him,

the doctor realised the only thing the elephant needed

was his good friend, the dog!

So the king called for the dog to be returned

and he came bounding back as fast as he could.

The elephant was so happy, he picked the dog up with his trunk

and placed him gently on his head.

Everyone marvelled at the dog who was sat on the royal elephant's head.

ELEPHANT TRUMPETS

# It's great to celebrate! #

Didn't that elephant look brilliant?

Looks better than any sandcastle I've ever made.

HE YAWNS

I wish I'd had a better sleep last night. Silly alarm clock.

I hope Shelin has had a good night.

She's got an early start for her Wesak celebrations.

Shall we see?

It's the morning of the Wesak celebrations,

And we are up bright and early to get ready.

OK.

I'm wearing a lamsari.

You look nice, Shelin.

My family is from Sri Lanka

and it's traditional for us to wear light colours.

I nearly forgot the card for my mum!

I hope she likes it.

Before we go to the celebrations,

we're going to help some friends make the food.

-Hello, Auntie, happy Wesak.

-Oh, thank you.

-Would you like to peel potatoes?

-OK.

All the food here is vegetarian

cos we don't eat any meat on Wesak.

All this is going to be eaten later at the celebrations.

We are celebrating Wesak in this beautiful garden.

The celebrations begin with the opening procession.

Look - the monk is leading and we are really lucky

because we get to walk with him.

We're making offerings to the Buddhist statue.

We are making masks now.

We make masks of animals to show love and kindness to everything.

I'm making a monkey mask.

I'm making a tiger.

What do you think? It's time for lunch now.

ALL: Yay!

Everyone is enjoying the food we helped prepare this morning.

We are eating it nice and slowly, enjoying every mouthful.

It tastes lovely.

I'm going to surprise my mum now!

-Surprise!

-Oh, very beautiful. Thank you, Shelin.

It's time for us to meditate now.

This time we are doing a walking meditation.

We're walking slowly around the circle of water.

It's very peaceful.

And breathe out.

It's nearly the end of our celebrations.

And we are going to finish with a very old Buddhist chant.

Thanks for coming to see our Wesak celebrations.

It's great to celebrate! Budhu Saranai! Goodbye!

Ah, didn't that look all peaceful and calm?

It's made me feel all nice and relaxed.

-ALARM RINGS

-Ah! What? When? Where?

-Oh, silly thing!

-ALARM STOPS

Oh...

Ooh, that reminds me! It's time for the song!

Hey-hey!

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Can't wait to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# We're so excited Cos it's going to be

# A party time for all our friends and family

# We're getting ready, we'll have so much fun

# So come and join in, everyone

# Cos it's time for us to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# It's time for us to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Cos today is such a special day

# It's great to celebrate

# And it's time for you and me to celebrate

# Celebrate

# So jump to your feet

# And dance with us

-# Clap your hands and cheer

-Whoa-oa

# Cos it's time for us to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Now it's time for us to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# Cos today is such a special day

# It's great to celebrate

# And it's time for you and me to celebrate

# To celebrate

# Time for us to celebrate

# It's great to celebrate

# And it's time for you and me

-# It's great to

-celebrate. #

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