Social Science Questions & Answers

Social Science Questions & Answers

What are Islamic mourning rites and rituals (Muharram)?

Muharram Images

On Ashura, the Muslims take out processions carrying colorfully decorated taziyas (bamboo and paper replicas of the martyr’s tomb) embellished with gilt and mica. Colorful replicas of Hazrat Imam Hussain’s tomb at Karbala are also carried in procession and buried at an imitation Karbala. The mourners walk barefoot to the beat of drums. In a frenzy of grief, they beat …

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What is Ashura (Muharram)?

When is Islamic New Year (Muharram)?

It is on the 10th day of Muharram in the Islamic calendar and marks the climax of the Remembrance of Muharram but not the Islamic month. It is also called Yaumu-l ‘Ashurah, or simply Ashura meaning, ‘the tenth day’. It is well-known because of historical significance and mourning for the martyrdom of Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic …

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What is History behind Muharram?

Muharram

[ads]Koran became the final word for Islam after the demise of Prophet Mohammad. A loyal follower of Mohammad was elected as his successor and he and his successors reigned peacefully. But during the time of Ali, the prophet’s Son-in-Law, there was opposition from many sections. Ali and his elder son, Hassan were killed. His youngest son Hussain was brutally murdered …

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What is Muharram? Martyrdom of Imam Hussain

Muharram

It is the first month of the Islamic calendar. Instead of joyous celebration, Muslims mark the beginning of the New Year by taking up the black attire of sorrow and participate in mourning gatherings in which the sacrifices of Husayn and his companions are commemorated. It is one of the four months of the year in which fighting is prohibited. …

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Can an elephant drink through its trunk?

Ernie Elephant and the Little Mouse

This is the equivalent of asking, ‘Can you drink through your nose?’ and of course the answer is no. The elephant‘s trunk is an extension of its nose and upper lip. It does not just hang limply but can be operated to carry out a vast range of tasks. The most important of these is food gathering. The sensitive finger …

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Where do elephants die? Kids Social Science Q&A

Ernie Elephant and the Little Mouse

Groups of elephants have been found buried together both in Africa and Asia. The nearness of the animals to each other may be no more than a coincidence. The areas may be no more than sites, since elevated and dried, where elephants have been drowned in bogs are while crossing rivers. However, many people will argue that old elephants, when …

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Which is the elephant’s closest relative?

आप हाथी नहीं इंसान हैं

You might think that the elephant‘s nearest relative would be another big lumbering animal of the African or Indian bush, but in fact its ‘nearest and dearest’ is a tiny creature called a rocky hyrax. Rock hyraxes live in rocky or wooded regions in parts of Asia and Africa. They couldn’t look less like an elephant, either, for they are …

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Who was the Elephant Man? Kids Social Science Q&A

Elephant Man

‘The Elephant Man’ was cruel name given to a man called Joseph Merrick, who was very severely deformed. Although he died before he was thirty years old, Joseph Merrick became a celebrity in Victorian England because, despite his deformities, he was gentle, intelligent and brave man. When he was young, unscrupulous men exhibited him as a freak in fairs and …

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Why do African elephants have bigger ears than Indian elephants?

World Elephant Day: Elephant is the most exploited animal

African elephants have larger ears than Indian, or Asiatic, elephants because they live in hotter conditions and are bigger and more aggressive and active. The huge ears of the African elephant, sometimes three and a half feet wide, enable it to hear more acutely. When the animal charges its fans out its ears, augmenting its terrible appearance and striking fear …

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Which is the Chariot Festival of India?

Car Festival of Lord Jagannath

Every year in mid-summer, Lord Jagannath, with his elder brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra, goes on vacation, traveling on grand chariots, from his temple in Puri, to his garden palace in the countryside. This belief of the Hindus has given rise to one of the biggest religious festivals in India – the Rath Yatra or the Chariot Festival. This is …

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