First day of winter

The first day of winter is December 21 every year. The first day of winter has the shortest day, and the longest night. This occurs when the sun is at the southernmost point of its orbit. The first day of meteorologist winter is on December 1st. Did you know that the winter solstice was known long ago, and can be dated back before the Stonehenge? Many early civilizations including the Mayans celebrated the Dec. 21. And a myth busted... the earliest sunset and latest sunrise don't fall on December.

Non-Fiction Book Report 10/23

Illustrated

History Of

INDIA

By: Wilco Picture Library

Report Written by Achintya Gupta

Chapters 3-4

Chapter 3: The Vedic Age

The Aryans, who had conquered the Harappans were typically nomads, so rather than occupy the beautiful cities, they settled on riverbanks in small villages, or Gramas, becoming semi-agriculturists. Each of the Gramas was headed by a Gramani. The Gramas were surrounded by Fences made of wood and Bamboo to protect them from wild animals.

Soon, the demand for land grew and villages started to make alliances with other villages. They were called Vis, or small cities. A group of Vis’ united to make a Jana or a clan, and the Rajan, or the king was their leader. He had many helpers including the priest(purohit), the commandant(Sevani), and the administration(Sabha and Samiti). These cities were divided into 4 quadrants w/ 2 main residential roads. Each quadrant housed a citadel(their holy place), the residential area, the merchants and the traders. The Aryan’s single largest contribution to Indian religion was Sanskrit.With that, Aryans created the Vedas, which formed the foundation of the Hindu religion. Also introduced during this time were the two epics, The Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

Also, during the Vedic age, the Caste System Emerged. Due to work specializations, different classes formed. The 4 main classes were the Brahmins(priests), Kshatriyas(warriors), Vaishyas(merchants), Shudras(outcasts).

Chapter 4: A time for Reform - Buddha

The Buddha was actually born as Prince Siddhartha. An astrologer predicted that Prince Siddhartha would actually give up his right to the throne and all worldly pleasures to be a sage. They tried to keep him away from the outside world, but by the time he was 16, he became very curious. He once asked his  charioteer to go to the outside world and he immediately came upon a frail person. His charioteer explained that when you get older, you die. He then came up to a person who looked pale. His charioteer explained that people can get sick sometimes. He came to the third group of people all dressed in black carrying a coffin. His charioteer now explained that when people die, they cremate them. One day, he left to try and find the true meaning of life, but being a sage didn’t help him. He then, when he was 29, went to meditate under a large fig tree. He learned that the key principles of Buddhism were called the Noble Truths. He spread Buddhism not just to India, but out to Burma, China, Japan and several other countries.