Diwali

It has been a ridiculously long time since I've done a substantive blog post. But better late than never! The end of October/beginning of November was Diwali time, one of the biggest festivals celebrated in north India. In some ways it is similar to Christmas in the U.S. (though I generally dislike comparing and equating different holidays). Everyone hangs up lights outside their homes, people buy gifts for neighbors and family, and mithai (sweets) becomes a daily (sometimes 2-3 times daily!) fixture. Diwali is generally regarded as the new year, and there are a few different things of significance about it. First, all the lights: as my mom explained to me when I was little, we put all these lights outside (and keep all the lights in the house on all night), because Diwali is the time when Ram is coming home - and the lights are to welcome him home. If you remember, Dussehra (mid-October) was when Ram killed Raavan, down in Lanka. So this whole time (in theory) he's been traveling back to his home - so (depending on how you look at it) we're either lighting his path home, or keeping the lights on to welcome him.

It's also the time to pray to Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, prosperity, good fortune, etc. Diwali is a time of new beginnings, and it's an auspicious (:P) time to start new projects. The little feet drawn below are Lakshmi's feet, as the hope is that if she comes into one's home, one will be blessed with good fortune.


Because there is such a rush on particular items around Diwali, whole markets pop up selling a ton of the basics everyone gets for their house. We went to the market a few days in advance to get some of these important items: clay pots for diyas (little pots to be filled with oil/wicks, and lit); Ganesh/Laxmi murtis (statues); etc. There are also a lot of little traditions - for example, on the fourth day before Diwali, you need to buy something new for the house. Pummy Auntie bought a new pot for the kitchen, which she was smart enough to pick out in advance because there is a crazy rush on that day as everyone goes to fulfill this ritual. The markets also stay open super late to accomodate all the shopping people need to do - until 11pm or even midnight.

On the day of Diwali itself, as well as the days leading up to it, there's lots of visiting (and lots of visitors). You go to family homes, to friends' homes, to neighbors' homes - and you always take along a gift. The most common gift is "dry fruit" - otherwise known as nut mixes (cashews, pistachios, almonds, etc.). Shops stock this en masse, and you can find lots of readymade gift boxes nicely decorated for the occasion.We decorated the house on the morning of Diwali. We hung up garlands of flowers all along the fence, and hung up decorative items in the doorway.


We also made rangoli - a decoration made with colored powder on ground in the entryway to the house. First we had colored powder - called rang, which some of you might recognize as the powder that is thrown during Holi. Pummy Auntie had a ton of super cool stencils that we could fill with the rang, and then simply tap it against the floor - instant design! We used these to decorate the real rangoli, and also for Lakshmi's feet in the doorway. The main rangoli Pummy Auntie made free hand, and then we filled in the colors in layers. So pretty! This is something that I had done at home with Mom and the fam in the past, but we don't have as good materials as you can get here.


Diwali night the air is FILLED with the sounds (and smoke!) from firecrackers. Actually, the sounds had been going on for a full few weeks before Diwali itself, but the clamor definitely peaked on Diwali night. We kept it pretty tame and just did sparklers outside the house :)