This term in grade 8 humanities,we had a very interesting field study where we visited various religious places of worship. We visited a Buddhist monastery, a Hindu temple, a Sikh temple, a Christian church, a Jewish synagogue and an Islamic mosque. We were given a tour of each religious building and an explanation of the religion by someone who practiced the religion. We spent time taking lots of photos of the architecture, symbols, people, etc at each place.

The Hindu temple was smaller than I had expected but was very interesting. We were first allowed to roam around and take photos of the whole place. There were lots of statues of their many important gods with different clothing and jewelry. Someone then explained the gods in more depth and what all the items around them represented.

  • Ganesha

We also visited two Buddhist monastery; one Chinese and one Tibetan. They both had really unique architecture and structures. I learnt a lot from visiting this religion: about the origins, statues and the temple in general. I thought I took very interesting photos from unique angles and of really unique things.

  • Chinese Buddhism

We then had lunch at the Sikh temple and it was really good authentic Indian meal. A person then explained the history of Sikhism and answered all of the questions our class had. We went into the place of worship and they were cleaning the main area where a event was going to start later that day. We then learnt to how to bow and we were given an apple as an offering.

We continued our exploration of the religious places on a different day when we went to a Roman Catholic Church. We were able to take pictures of the whole church and we were told the importance of all of the paintings and statues. We then went into the back room and saw all of the special robes that are worn. Later we had a time to ask questions and then we left to go back to school.

Our final field study was to an Islamic mosque and a Jewish synagogue. I took many photos from lots of different angles, some even used my height advantage. At the synagogue, the Rabbi took out a scroll, read a part of it and talked about its importance. He handed out a sheet of paper that included parts of the Jewish Bible.

At the Mosque, I we didn’t have the chance to take that many photos. However, I learnt about Islam’s five pillars and that all Mosques face towards Mecca (really important religious site for Muslims). During the time we visited, it was one of the five times to pray.

Overall I thought it was a really unique experience and I learnt a lot from these field studies. I got lots of amazing photos and I am happy with what I photographed. If you want to know more about these field studies, you can check out this link.