Page - 93 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 04/01

Representations of Religion and Culture in Children’s Literature | 93www.jrfm.eu 2018, 4/1, 81–99 FAITH AND RELIGION The analysis’s approach to faith and religion assumes a non-restrictive concept of religion. However, the authors of the books examined here use institutionalised conceptions of religion. Specifically. the narrations refer to Catholic Christianity, Jewish traditions and Islamic ways of life. The short story “Lili und das chinesische Frühlingsfest” mentions various gods; they are set in a context that is not reli- gious but national. Religion is displayed as something special and uncommon as the characters learn about religious traditions on festive days and at celebrations. The books discussed here presuppose either a Protestant or a general, unspe- cific Christian perspective. In Lara Lustig und der liebe Gott, we read, “Most of us are Protestant, like me. Only four are Catholic.”31 The story “Lena feiert Pessach mit Alma” juxtaposes Jewish Pessach and Christian Easter. Own identities are clearly conceptualised as Christian: “‘Pessach is the Jewish festival of the mat- zah, we Jews celebrate it at the same time you celebrate Easter’, Alma explains smiling.”32 Religious otherness is constructed by using unknown terms: “‘The most important Jewish festivities are Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot; Ha- nukka, Pessach and Purim also belong to it.’ ‘Strange words!’, Louis shouts.”33 The reader identifies religious rituals and festivities as unusual as they are pointed out with exoticising comments: Everybody was dressed nicely: the girls with long white dresses, with flowers and floral wreaths in their hair, the boys in dark suits. And each child holds a beautifully 31 Zöller 2006, 7. 32 Halberstam 2016, n. pag., emphasis in original. 33 Zöller 2006, 53. Fig. 16: Representing the grandmother’s Muslim identity in Taufiq/Spanjardt (illust.), Huda bekommt ein Brüderchen (n. pag.) © Carlsen Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2011. Fig. 17: Jewish fashion and clothing in Halber- stam/Späth (illust.), Lena feiert Pessach mit Alma (n. pag.) © Carlsen Verlag GmbH, Hamburg 2011.