Lucille Cohen invited Altrincham Interfaith Group to celebrate the festival of Sukkot in the succah at her home. Lucille’s granddaughters explained significance of the succah, the four species and ushpizin.
Lucille’s grandaughters explain the significance of Sukkot
Under the Succah
Over 50 people from Altrincham Interfaith Group visited the Shiri Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara in Moss Side. The Sikh temple opened in November 2011 and now has a thriving attendance of several hundred each Sunday. The group were taken, with their shoes off, heads covered and hands washed, into the prayer hall. Prakash and Pargash told them about the Guru Granth Sahib and the 10 gurus. The principles of the Sikh beliefs and practices were explained including the “5 Ks”.
Sikhs can be recognised by the “5Ks”. The Kesh or uncut hair. The Kangha or comb which is always worn under a turban. The Kara steel bracelet, Kacha underwear and the Kirpan sword or more commonly a small dagger.
Later the group were taken to the Langer, a dinning hall, and were given food and drink including some excellent onion bahjis. During a question and answer session a wide range of topics were openly talked about.
‘Oh I really love doing the float!’ said Nick. ‘I can’t believe we have to wait a whole year before we can do it again! It’s the best day of the whole year! Why can’t we have one every month? Then we wouldn’t have to wait so long!’
Such was the comment of one young participant at the end of the parade! Well who needs judges and prizes with such expressed enjoyment from one of our regular attendees? Nick loves getting involved walking alongside the float, rattling his bucket and checking with glee how many coins the generous people of Altrincham and Timperley have offered. 7th July 2012 was a very special day in AIF group’s year. Our theme was ‘Team Spirit’ and there we were with the biggest Olympic flag you will have ever seen as the central banner of our float display, surrounded by masses of white, blue, black, red, yellow and green balloons. Flags from Great Britain, Australia, Pakistan, Italy, India, Ireland, and Scotland, Nigeria, Trinidad and Tobago, Malta and England all fluttered in the wind as more balloons enhanced their colours, while the National anthems of all those countries were played. Mary ‘pulled’ the float along (with bunting!) from the front whilst Haj danced his way to the music bringing up the rear. What a day we had! Worries about the torrential rain of the previous day were distant memories as the sun shone in an intense blue sky and the temperatures soared. All the noisy fun of the fair awaited the parents and children alike on Beechfields.
Friendships made and renewed between young people of all faiths: that is what this day is about! Next month might be just a little too soon for the organisers but Nick is our best advert and will have to be patient and wait till next July to have another go on the float!
Does his enthusiasm give you a flavour of what you might have missed today?
Our annual picnic in Tatton Park will be at 2pm on Sunday 1st July. Everyone is welcome to join in. We gather near the boat launching area on Tatton Mere. You are invited to bring some food to share with other people. There will be games for the children but many adults will join in and have fun playing together.
Note that the car park entrance is £5.00 (Blue Badge Holder £2.50).
If the weather is uncertain, please contact 0795-714-7709 to confirm that the picnic is still going ahead.
If you get lost on the day, call 0795-714-7709 0r 0794-485-9135.
This was a great success about 50 people took part and there were 6 teams of about 8 people in each. Teams were made up of people from a variety of religions and a wide range of ages.
Steven Pearlman, the question master, had clearly put a lot of thought into providing a wide range of questions. These included a round where all the answers were colours, another where the answers were made up of the letters in the word ‘interfaith’ and a picture round.
After 5 rounds of questions we had break for refreshments and a chance to mingle and meet friends old and new.
Our thanks go to Gordon Levy for organising this event.
AIG Quiz 2012
Members of the winning team with Steven Pearlman (left) and Gordon Levy (right)