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Teacher's Guide for APPLESEEDS Sacred Places

March 2002

This guide was prepared by Karen Hong, who writes frequently for COBBLESTONE ®, CALLIOPE ®, FACES ®, and APPLESEEDS.

VOCABULARY
sacred * wailing * sepulcher * encased * octagonal * mosque * Shinto * kami * eruptions * Fujihime * genius loci * stucco * Chac * Itzamna * Jaguar * Castillo * azure * maize * cacao * Yacatec * Cretan * labyrinth * counterclockwise * astronomy * archaeologist * devastation * tributaries * Hindu * nirvana * Ganga * matted * Shiva * Anangu * aboriginal * monolith * Tjukurpa * ancestor * megalith * lacrosse
SACRED JERUSALEM
The Old City in Jerusalem is sacred to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. To help your students understand the importance Jerusalem has to these groups of people, have your students construct a timeline.
  • Divide your students into three groups: Judiasm, Christianity, and Islam.
  • Have each group of students identify dates and events in Jerusalem's history that are or have been important to their group.
  • You may wish to have each group of students display their dates and events on cards of different colors.
  • Mount the cards along a wall using poster putty or sticky tack to make removal easy. Be sure to have students group dates together regardless of their color. For example, 1099 is the start of the First Crusade which affects all groups: the Christians take Jerusalem resulting in the death of many Jews and Muslims.
  • You may wish to have your student discuss the timeline in view of the following questions:
    1. Which group has the longest history in Jerusalem?
    2. Which group has the shortest history in Jerusalem?
    3. Does the length of a group's time in Jerusalem have anything to do with why that group sees Jerusalem as a sacred place?
    4. Why is Jerusalem sacred to the Jews? the Christians? the Muslims?
    5. Why do many people journey to Jerusalem?
You and your students can find chronologies of events in the history of Jerusalem in many books, such as:
  • Pirotta, Savior. Jerusalem. Holy Cities Series. New York: Dillon Press, 1993.
  • Zanger, Walter. Jerusalem. The Great Cities Series. Woodbridge, Connecticut: Blackbirch Press, 1991.
JAPAN'S SACRED MOUNTAIN
Throughout history, many societies have explained natural events such as volcanoes and earthquakes as the acts of sacred beings. The Japanese believed the god Kunitokotache lived on Mount Fujiyama and that Fujiyama, the spirit of the mountain, protected the Japanese people. The Aztecs named one of their highest mountains Popocatepetl, "smoking mountain," and believed that it erupted when the gods were angry. Holding that the Sofarara volcano near Naples was the entry to the underworld, the ancient Romans believed that it was also one of the workshops of the blacksmith Vulcan, the god of fire. The ancient Greeks believed that the Cyclops, one-eyed giants, helped the fire god Hepaestrus in his underground workshop. When they were angry, the Cyclops threw fire and boulders. According to Hawaiian legend, the goddess Pele lives in the crater Halema'uma'u at the summit of the Kilauea volcano on the island of Hawaii. Although Pele is a powerful force capable of melting rocks and destroying forests, she also builds mountains and creates new islands.

Have your students set aside their scientific knowledge of volcanoes and look at what is happening with fresh eyes as they seek to create a legend that explains the eruption of a volcano. You might use the following chart to help them look at the legends of a number of societies before they create their own legend. You might have them write their legends or share their legends orally as the ancient storytellers did.

PeopleSiteGod or SpiritActivity
Japanese
Aztecs
Ancient Greeks
Ancient Romans
Hawaiians


HOLY CITIES
You may want your students to learn more about sacred cities. Have each student choose a city from the following list:
Altun Ha, Belize * Tiahuanaco, Bolivia * Puma Punku, Bolivia * Incallajta, Bolivia * Chicken Itza, Yucatan, Mexico * Tulum, Yucatan, Mexico * Mount Alban, Mexico * Palenque, Mexico * Uxmal, Mexico * Manchu Pichu, Peru * Teotihuacau, Mexico * Karnak, Egypt * Luxor, Egypt * Chaco Canyon, New Mexico * Bagan, Mynanar * Angkor, Cambodia * Banaras, India * Bodh Gaya, Indian * Hardwar (or Harimar), India * Brahma, India * Kathmandu, Nepal * Halstatt, Austria * Lourdes, France * Delphi, Greece * Fatima, Portugal * Assissi, Italy * Avila, Spain * Damascus, Syria * Jerusalem, Israel *Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Have your students find the answers to the following questions regarding their city of choice:
  • When was the city of your choice regarded as sacred?
  • Who lived in your city when it was sacred?
  • Who lives in your city now?
  • What about your city made it sacred?
  • How did people celebrate or commemorate your city's holiness?
  • Does that activity continue today?
You may wish to have your students display what they have learned on a poster, in a diorama, by acting out a short drama they've created, or by writing about their city.

HOLY RIVER OF INDIA
The people of India call the Ganges River by many names. Some of them include:
  • Sughosha: "the melodius"
  • Bhagya-janani: "the creator of happiness"
  • Jagada-hita: "the friend of all that lives and moves"
  • Ganga mai: "Mother Ganges"
  • Parabrahmasvarupini: the "Embodiment of the Supreme Spirit"
Have your students chose a well-known or nearby river answer the following questions:
  • Who named the river?
  • What does its name mean?
  • Is the river known by nicknames? What are they?
  • What do these names tell you about this river?
PERSONAL SACRED PLACES
Have your students begin to create their own sacred spaces by having them work through the following questions:
  • Is there a place in your life where you sense the presence of the holy?
  • Is this place inside or out of doors?
  • What makes this place holy or sacred?
  • Must you bring anything to this site to aid you in finding the holiness?
  • Is this holy place shared by others who feel its holiness or meant for your use alone?
You may wish to have your students share their sacred places with their classmates by having them illustrate a poster, create a diorama, write a descriptive paragraph, or write a poem.

In addition to the books listed above, you and your students might find the following web sites helpful:
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