Diwali, which is a shortened name from the Sanskrit word "Deepavali" is celebrated all over India as the festival of lights. "Deepa" meaning light, and "avali" meaning a row. It is a celebration that every age can enjoy where the people will express their happiness by lighting earthen "diyas" (lamps), decorating the houses, bursting firecrackers and spending time with family and neighbors, giving gifts of sweets and dried fruits and nuts.
In the Hindu religion, lighting a lamp has many significances. To Hindus, darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. Therefore by lighting a lamp, Hindus believe that they are destroying- through knowledge- all things evil; wickedness, violence, lust, anger, envy, greed, etc.
In the morning on the day of Diwali, people will wake at 3:00 a.m. for a traditional oil bath, emerging scrubbed clean and in brand new clothes and elaborate jewelry to light lamps, do a puja and go out to burst crackers. Throughout the day, people spend time visiting with friends and family, armed heavily with boxes and boxes of Indian sweets to give as gifts. In the evening, more lamps are lit and more crackers are burst in the dark- lighting up the entire night sky, and most of the ground as well!
2 comments:
Did you get to see the video clip of President Obama's Diwali greetings? It was really nice.
Yea! I saw it! That's so awesome! I actually sent it out too- my parents thought it was great!
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