ARCHANA CEREMONY FOR HINDU STUDENTS

There was a special prayer ceremony in school this morning. The Muslims students had a prayer session to ask for blessings from their God to do well in their upcoming examination. Similarly, my colleagues, Suit Fah, Yogesh and I brought our Hindu students to the Mariamman Temple to perform a religious worship ritual to ask for blessings from Lord Ganesha to do well in their examinations. My student Sharveen told me that the ceremony that was conducted by the priest was known as Archana. He said that an Archana is akin to puja which is a religious ceremony performed in temples or in homes involving worship through the use of a sacred image. Technically, archana and puja are the same thing and the words could be interchanged, however, in practice puja generally refers to a more formal "sit down" ceremony, while archana is a ceremony performed by a temple priest on a "walk-in basis." Typically, a devotee will come to a temple with a basket of fruits and flowers and perhaps a coconut and the priest will offer these items to the Deity on the altar along with a lamp and prayers. The devotee will then receive the food offerings back as a prasada or blessings from the Deity. This is archana. LINK
In the above picture, you can see Yoga, Sharveen and Miss Yogesh at the temple.

In this picture you can see me, Suit Fah and Yogesh praying to the Hindu deity.

Me holding up the prasada (blessings) in the form of a green apple and flowers that I received from the Sami (priest).

I am asking Yogesh how to apply the coloured powder to the forehead.

Surendran who is in Form 4 went along to the temple to give support to his 2 seniors.  He will be sitting for his SPM examination next year.

Ezekiel is another Form 4 student who went along with us to the temple.  He too was there to give support to his seniors.  As Ezekiel is a Christian, he was the one who took the photographs.  Next year when it is his time to sit for his examination, we will be accompanying him to a Methodist church for the prayer session.

Yoga is seen here with a coconut, flowers and leaves given by the sami (temple priest). These have been offered by the priest to the deity and then given back to Yoga as prasada or blessings from the deity.

My four boys and two colleagues posing for a picture in front of the Mariamman Temple in Sitiawan.