Basic 6 · Religious and Moral Education · Religious Worship
Analysing and Presenting Festival Data
In this topic you will analyse the data you gathered on religious festivals, identify their moral lessons and present your findings.
By the end of these notes you should be able to:
- Organise festival data in tables and charts
- Identify common features and moral lessons of festivals
- Present findings to the class
What you already know
- Gathering data on religious festivals
Copy everything that has a blue line on its left into your notebook. The other parts are for reading.
- Strand
- Religious Practices
- Sub-strand
- Religious Worship
- Indicator
- B6.2.2.1.1 – Gather and record data on religious festivals
Introduction
After collecting data, researchers organise and study it to find patterns and lessons. Now you will turn your festival data into a clear presentation.
1. Organising the Data
| Festival | Number of pupils |
|---|---|
| Christmas | 16 |
| Eid al-Fitr | 9 |
| Homowo | 6 |
| Easter | 5 |
| Odwira | 4 |
| Total | 40 |
2. Common Features of Festivals
| Feature | Examples |
|---|---|
| prayer and worship | church services, Eid prayers, libation |
| special food | Christmas rice and chicken, Eid meals shared with neighbours, kpokpoi at Homowo |
| new or special clothes | children wear new clothes at Christmas and Eid |
| music and dance | carols, drumming, durbars |
| sharing and charity | gifts, zakat al-fitr, food for the poor |
| family reunions | people travel home |
3. Moral Lessons from Festivals
| Festival | Moral lesson |
|---|---|
| Christmas | love, giving and peace |
| Easter | sacrifice and hope |
| Eid al-Fitr | self-discipline, gratitude and charity |
| Eid al-Adha | obedience to God and sharing with the needy |
| Homowo | remembering hard times, unity and generosity |
| Hogbetsotso | courage, unity and wisdom in difficult situations |
4. Presenting Findings
- Give your presentation a clear title.
- Explain how you collected the data.
- Show your table and chart.
- Describe the main findings (e.g. which festival was most popular and why).
- State the moral lessons.
- End with a conclusion and thank your audience.
Festivals show that, although Ghanaians belong to different religions, they share values such as gratitude, generosity, unity and respect. Many families celebrate one another's festivals, which helps keep peace in the country.
When you present, speak clearly, look at your audience and point to your chart as you explain it. Be respectful when describing festivals from religions other than your own. Use the names and terms that believers themselves use, and avoid making fun of any practice.
Finally, invite questions from your classmates and answer them politely. If you do not know an answer, say that you will find out.
New words
- analyse
- To study data carefully to find patterns.
- findings
- What you discover from data.
- chart
- A diagram that shows data.
- conclusion
- The final judgement or summary.
- charity
- Giving to people in need.
- unity
- Being together as one.
Summary
- Organise festival data in tables and bar charts.
- Festivals share prayer, food, music, sharing and reunions.
- Each festival teaches moral lessons.
- Festivals promote unity among Ghanaians of different faiths.
Class activity: Festival Presentation
- Use the data you gathered on religious festivals.
- Make a table, a bar chart and a list of moral lessons.
- Present your findings to the class in five minutes.
You need: Printed song, Recitation cards from Ghana’s three religions, Local drum, Gourd shaker, Exercise books
Exercises
Answer in your exercise book first, then check your answers.
1. In the sample data, the most popular festival was…
- A. Christmas
- B. Eid al-Fitr
- C. Homowo
- D. Odwira
Show answer
Answer: Christmas16 pupils.2. Which feature is common to many festivals?
- A. Sharing food
- B. Ignoring family
- C. Fighting
- D. Working alone
Show answer
Answer: Sharing foodGenerosity.3. Eid al-Fitr teaches…
- A. self-discipline and charity
- B. laziness
- C. greed
- D. pride
Show answer
Answer: self-discipline and charityAfter fasting.4. A bar chart can show festival data.
- A. True
- B. False
Show answer
Answer: TrueVisual data.5. Festivals only divide people of different religions.
- A. True
- B. False
Show answer
Answer: FalseThey promote unity.6. Giving to people in need is ______.
Show answer
Answer: charitye.g. zakat.7. State three common features of festivals.
Show answer
Answer: Prayer, special food, music and dance (or sharing, reunions).Any three.8. How do festivals promote national unity in Ghana?
Show answer
Answer: People of different faiths celebrate together, share food and greetings, and learn common values.Unity.
Homework
- Write a report on one festival using your data and include its moral lesson.