Celebration of Diwali

1. One of the main attractions of the India is celebration of Diwali, a joyful
celebration that generally celebrates the triumph of excellence over evil. The
name of the festival translates into “lights / lights of the row”, which is why
Diwali is usually called the Festival of Lights.
It takes place over a period of five days under favourable dates during the
the end of Ashvin / initiate Kartika – the Hindu calendar month of the
months of the Gregorian calendar of October / November.
Happy Diwali 2019

2. What is Diwali?
Diwali is a national Hindu festival that is also adopted by various religious
like Sikhs and Jains. As such, it implies religious and regional variations in the
way it is celebrated. For Jains Diwali means Independence Day which means
the attainment of moksha (liberation from the cycle of life and death) of
Mahavira (the founder of AC, the central principles of sixth-century Jainism).
For the Sikhs, Diwali is mainly for the liberation of Guru Hargobind 1619 (the
sixth of the ten Sikhism gurus), as well as fifty-two others, who were
arrested by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir at Fort Gwalior.

3. Why Diwali is celebrated?
Diwali commemorates the victory of Lord Rama over Ravana and returned as
a victorious person to the kingdom after a period of exile. To express
happiness of the return of Lord Rama, people of his kingdom illuminated the
street cheering with many blinking diyas (ceramic oil lamps). It is for this
reason that the lighting of the diyas has become an important part of the
Diwali festival.
It also symbolizes the substitution of darkness for “inner” light, embellished
by the search for knowledge and religious practices. In fact, spirituality is in
the heart of Diwali with devotees specifically seeking blessings from two
prominent Hindu gods: Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and Ganesh, the god
of happiness and favourable start. Believers pray for prosperity and well-
being for next year, with fireworks.

4. How Diwali is celebrated?
The houses and shops are cleaned and decorated with fairy lights, lamps and
colours of the Rangoli / kolams pattern (the clean styles of rice / powder /
chalk paste adorn the thresholds). The streets abound with the shopping
crowd doing everything possible, from beautiful new clothes and Christmas
decorations to gifts for family, friends and business associates.
The most popular gift is the mithai (Indian sweets), with dried fruits and well
packaged nuts. The mithai are specially prepared for Diwali party, with the
first Barfi cut squares, ladoos and kaaju katlis, even soft syrupy gulab-jamuns
and fluffy rasgullas.