Once Upon A Time, in a not so far away land, there were two young girls, Grace and Arya. They had a lot of differences but they were also quite similar. They were both 7 years old, they were in the same class, at the same school, and they both enjoyed playing outside at recess.

Other than those few similarities, they didn’t really know much about the other. One day Grace noticed that Arya wasn’t at school. Grace was curious as to where her friend could be. Grace knew that her favorite holiday Easter was coming up. She enjoyed getting all the delicious chocolate from The Easter Bunny, but that wasn’t today. “But isn’t Easter next week?” Grace asked her teacher, “Why isn’t Arya here today?” “I don't know, Grace. Why don’t you ask her when you see her tomorrow?” Her teacher replied. “Ok!” answered Grace, and she went back to doing her math worksheet.

But the next day, Arya did not show up to class.

And the day after that was the same. Arya was nowhere to be found. Grace was confused and didn’t know where her friend had gone.

Finally, on the fourth day, Arya was in the class waiting for Grace. “Where have you been the past 3 days?” Grace asked confused. “I was celebrating Buddhist New Year with my family!” Arya answered excitingly. For 3 days, after the first full moon of April, Arya spent her days celebrating with her family, and eating her favourite traditional Buddhist foods. “It was so much fun!” She exclaimed.

“Arya, what's bud-dumism?” Grace asked confused. “It's pronounced Buddhism, and it’s my religion” Arya said.

“Oh! I am apart of a religion too! But mine is called Christianity!” said Grace. “But my New Year is in January! Right now we are getting ready to celebrate Easter.” Then Grace went on about everything that she enjoys about Easter. “See, both of our religions have special holidays to enjoy and celebrate!” replied Arya.

“Now I understand different holidays, but why do we have them in the first place?” Grace asked. “I'm not sure, why don't we ask the teacher?” Arya said. So the two young girls went to their teacher and asked why religions have holidays and special events.

“Well certain religions have different corresponding holidays. Its that religions way of being one with God and celebrating. This is called Mysticism, and it can be done in many different ways.” “Like how?” asked Arya “Well you had a holiday recently, that is a form of tradition. You can also be one with God through prayer or meditation, going to the holy place, reflecting and practicing at home, and the teachings from the religion.” Ms. Brown said.

“Hey! I know how to pray, I do it every Sunday, and even sometimes at home before we eat! I’m so good at praying! You have to be on your knees, and hold your hands, just like this” Grace said excitedly and she demonstrates how she prays. “When you pray on Sundays, Grace, are you at church with your family?” Ms. Brown said “Yes I am! And before we eat dinner, we say a prayer that my mom told me I was named after!”