Interest in religious difference

In the Catholic kindergarten, children tend not to focus on religion and religious differ-ence, while in the Muslim kindergarten children often focus on religion and religious difference and are curious about how other religions are lived. For the children in the Islamic kindergarten, it seems self-evident that there is religious difference, whereas in the Catholic kindergarten, there is no topic that is openly discussed in the kindergarten.

• No discernible interest in religious difference

• Little thematisation of religious difference without stimulus 631 Cf. category “Recognisable elements of religious difference” (part V, 4.1.2).

632 Cf. category “Verbal communication about religious difference” (part V, 4.1.3).

• Initiated and faltering discussions about religious difference

• Little knowledge of religious difference

• A matter of course of and interest in religious difference

• Self-initiated and self-paced discussions on topics of religious difference

• Religious affiliation and religious expressions

• Festivals

• Absence from Koran lessons

• Knowledge of religious difference

• Attempt to understand unknown religious expressions

No discernible interest in religious difference

The children in the Catholic kindergarten do not address religious differences on their own initiative. If the researcher sets stimulus, the conversations remain faltering and concentrated on the researcher and religious difference is not explicitly discussed.

Little thematisation of religious difference without stimulus

Without the impulse of the researcher, their own religious affiliation, religious expres-sions and religious differences are not discussed by the children in the Catholic kinder-garten. Neither before nor after the celebrations take place are these thematised by the children among themselves, the children turn to their games. Only in the pre-Christ-mas period, while a nativity scene is set up in the kindergarten and a path to the crèche is depicted, the children sometimes sit in front of the crèche and talk about it. A Chris-tian child at home asks why the mother of a child wears a headscarf, in kindergarten the child does not ask this question.

Initiated and faltering conversations about religious difference

If the researcher asks questions during a discussion, the children provide answers to them, the discussions remain sluggish and, with a few exceptions, in which the food or the horse at St. Martins’ is the subject of discussion, concentrate on the researcher.

In the group discussion about the Eid Al-Adha, for example, the children answer the questions and then change the topic, whereby no sequence in the conversation about the Eid Al-Adha becomes self-evident. The celebration of Eid Al-Adha does not seem to arouse any special interest among the children.

Little knowledge of religious difference

Children in the Catholic kindergarten who notice religious differences, which becomes clear in discussions initiated by the researcher, often have no explanation for them.

The children do not know why some children should not make a sign of the cross.

They also lack an explanation as to why some children are not present at festivals, although they participated in the rehearsal. The children are not aware that some fes-tivals are not celebrated by everyone. Thus, the Christian children in the Catholic

kin-dergarten know after the celebration of the Eid Al-Adha in the kinkin-dergarten that they do not celebrate the festival at home, but they are not aware that some children in the kindergarten celebrate this festival because they are Muslim. Neither the children who did not take part in the religious offers nor the children who noticed the absence of some children mention an explanation for their absence. In a discussion, when asked by the researcher, which people do not have an Advent wreath, the children named the poor, the blacks and the elderly because they are poor. At the Eid Al-Adha, the children in the Catholic kindergarten are not sure why they received chocolate, they think either because of sharing or because they were good. The children do not know that Muslims celebrate this festival which is why the Eid Al-Adha is being celebrated in the Catholic kindergarten.

A matter of course of and interest in religious difference

The Muslim children in the Islamic kindergarten address religious difference as a mat-ter of course and are inmat-terested in different forms of religious expression.

Self-paced and self-initiated conversations on topics of religious difference

The Muslim children in the Islamic kindergarten talk about topics of their religion or religious difference without given stimulus in different situations, such as eating, drawing or playing free time, which shows their interest in religious difference and its self-evident thematisation.

Religious affiliation and religious expressions

The Muslim children in the Islamic kindergarten ask about the religious affiliation of other children, the teachers and the researcher. The question of whether the researcher is a Muslim is asked in the Islamic kindergarten in the middle of playing or after visiting the mosque. After visiting the mosque, the children ask the researcher why she goes to Koran lessons, although she is not a Muslim. One child’s remark that the researcher is an aunt and not a Muslim answered the question for the children. They make it a subject of their own accord that they are Muslim. For the children, being Muslim means going to Koran lessons and wearing a headscarf for some children.

The children mention that certain things like gelatine or alcohol should not be eaten or drunk because they are ḥarām and they ask the Christian teacher if she eats pork.

Furthermore, some children say that discos are ḥarām because of the alcohol, or nail polish, make-up or short dresses are ḥarām, they laugh about a picture of a woman wearing a bikini in the newspaper “Heute”⁶³³, since it is ḥarām, and when a girl wears a very short skirt, the children point out to her that she must not dress like that.

Arabic-speaking children are proud to be able to speak Arabic and are admired by the other children in the Islamic kindergarten for their ability.

633 Free Viennese newspaper.

Festivals

The Muslim children in the Islamic kindergarten thematise festivals which occur in the Christian yearly circle, they know when a Christian festival has taken place and are curious how the festival has been celebrated. They are interested in the way of celebrating non-Islamic festivals and understand that the festival can be important for people who are not Muslim. This becomes clear, for example, in a situation in which a Muslim girl asks the researcher questions about Easter and then paints a picture with an Easter bunny and gives it to her with the words “I know, you love Easter”.⁶³⁴ The children know that Muslims do not celebrate Easter and ask the researcher if she cel-ebrates Easter. In response to her affirmative answer, they ask if she is not a Muslim.

1 Fw: Did you have Easter yesterday? Yes or no?

2 I: Yes

3 Fw: Aren’t you a Muslim?

4 I: No.⁶³⁵

The children establish a connection between the celebration of Easter and religious affiliation. They know that they did not celebrate Easter because they are Muslims.

Absence from the Koran lessons

Religious difference becomes particularly recognisable for children in the Islamic kin-dergarten in the fact that not all children participate in the Koran lessons. Most of the Muslim children explain whether children are Muslim or not by their presence in Koran lessons. Participation in the teaching of the Koran indicates religious affiliation to Islam. The children cite non-affiliation to certain groups as the reason for their absence from Koran lessons.⁶³⁶

Knowledge of religious difference

The children in the Islamic kindergarten know about the fact of religious difference.

The reference point for declarations on religious expressions among children is Islam.

They distinguish whether they are Muslim or not, another religion is not mentioned by the children. The children state that they belong to Islam as a reason whether certain festivals are celebrated, whether a headscarf is worn and whether certain command-ments are observed. For many children, the headscarf is a criterion for distinguishing whether women are Muslim or not. A child tells at lunch that his mother can’t go swimming.

484 I always go swimming with Dad. Because my mom has a headscarf, she’s Muslim. She can’t.⁶³⁷

634 Group discussion after Easter with Fw, Rw and Ew in the Islamic kindergarten, 43.

635 Group discussion after Easter with Fw, Rw and Ew in the Islamic kindergarten, 1-4.

636 Cf. section “Knowledge of religious difference” (part V, 4.2.1).

637 Research diary, Islamic kindergarten, 483.

The Muslim children in the Islamic kindergarten know Christian celebrations, which they do not celebrate. They know about the prayer washes and the mosque and that some commandments are not obeyed by people who are not Muslim. They know the prohibition of certain behaviours in Islam such as wearing short skirts or nail polish, wearing make-up or drinking alcohol. The children correct each other, if a part of a sura is recited wrongly. Before visiting the mosque, they ask each other if they had done the prayer washes correctly. Some girls control the other children during the prayer washes and explain to them in a commanding tone what they should do, where-upon all children obey. In one situation, a Muslim child claims that another child is going to hell because it is not Muslim. The children control each other in religious rituals.

The children identify belonging to a certain group as a reason for attending or not attending Koran lessons and are aware that not all people go to Koran lessons.⁶³⁸ The Christian children in the group know that they themselves do not go to Koran lessons because they are not Muslims, with one child using the word mosque instead of the word Muslims. The Christian children are also aware that all the other children in the group are going to Koran lessons. For the two Christian girls, being Muslim means going to Koran lessons. The Muslim children who notice the absence of some children have explanations for this in the Islamic kindergarten. The following reasons are given by the Muslim children in the Islamic kindergarten for attending or not attending Koran lessons, with each child stating only one reason:

Being Muslim: Some Muslim children mention that they go to Koran lessons because they are Muslims, whereas some of the group are not Muslims and therefore do not attend Koran lessons. The children know which children of the group do not go to Koran lessons and list their names. A boy does not take part in Koran lessons with the rest of the group because he or she is of a different age and therefore takes part in Koran lessons with another group. He clearly explains that he is a Muslim, he is going to Koran lessons with another group.

Children’s behaviour: In a conversation, the distinction between good and bad children is made, whereby only the good children go into the Koran room, but the bad children do not. The children also name the child who, because of its behaviour, is not allowed to attend Koran lessons, which the child concerned is resisting.⁶³⁹

38 I: Who goes to the mosque?

39 Ew: Me, me (points) 40 Bm: └Me (points) 41 Tw: └Me. Me. (points) 42 Ew: All

638 Cf. section “Knowledge of religious difference” (part V, 4.2.1).

639 On the day of the conversation, the Koran teacher and a teacher discuss that all children should have been well in the Koran lesson and that if a child is bad, it will be taken out of the Koran lesson by the teacher. Bm is called by his name and asked to be good. The day before a child was not allowed to go to Koran lessons because of his behaviour.

43 Bm: I’m going too. I’m going too.

44 Ew: Bad child doesn’t go, good goes.

45 Tw: Bad child doesn’t go, only good. (.) But Bm not. Bm was bad.

46 Bm: Me too.⁶⁴⁰

Height or age: As a reason why she goes to Koran lessons, a girl states that she is still small and generalises that all small children go to Koran lessons.

7 Nw: Koran lessons. yes. (.) Because I’m still small, when someone is small, they go to Koran lesson.⁶⁴¹

Attempt to understand unknown religious expressions

The children in the Islamic kindergarten show understanding for other religions or religious attitudes. In the conversations, the children look for similarities on the one hand, and on the other they are aware of many differences between the two religions.

Muslim children in the Islamic kindergarten connect their own religion with the Christian religion and seek points of contact from their world of experience. They try to understand Christian festivals by referring to Islamic festivals by combining concepts, so they call the pre-Easter Lent Ramadan and Easter as Easter Bayram. The teacher corrects the girl by telling her that the festival is only called Easter, not Easter bayram, whereupon a boy says Easter holidays.

387 Ew: Easter Bayram with Auntie, Easter Bayram 388 T: This is not Bayram, only Easter.

389 Ew: Easter

390 Bm: °Easter holidays°⁶⁴²

Without the researcher asking, the children tell her that they are Muslims, but have nevertheless received chocolate and sweets for Easter. The children are interested in the teacher’s stories about other churches, they associate the ringing of the bell with the word “church”.

In the Catholic kindergarten, children compare a child’s henna-painted hands with tattoos given to them by the doctor or with paintings they paint on themselves with felt-tip pens.