How Diwali is celebrated - a holiday celebrated by more than 1 billion people of different religions

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Diwali is the most important holiday in India, symbolizing the victory of good over evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance. This five-day festival of lights is celebrated by over a billion people of different religions. It is a family holiday with prayers, amazing fireworks and, for some, the beginning of a new year. A fascinating and mystical history of the famous Indian holiday, further in the review.

Diwali is perhaps best known as the festival of lights. "Deepavali" in translation from Sanskrit means "a series of fires". On the days of the celebration, people light fires in earthen vessels and line them up in rows near their homes.

The dates for this festival are based on the Hindu lunar calendar. In it, each month is marked by the time during which the Moon makes a revolution around the Earth. Diwali begins shortly before the arrival of the new moon between the Hindu months of Aswin and Kartika, which usually fall in October or November according to the Gregorian calendar. In 2020, Diwali starts on November 12th and its most important festival day was November 14th.

The meaning of Diwali and the many legends about it

Diwali is very widely celebrated - it is an extremely important religious holiday not only for Hindus. It is also celebrated among Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists, as it does not have a single origin story. Each religious denomination has its own legend about Diwali. All these stories are united by the fact that in the end, they all tell about the victory of good over evil.

Only in Hinduism, which is considered the oldest existing religion in the world, dating back to the second millennium BC, there are several versions of the history of Diwali. They differ depending on the geographic communities. However, these are all epic stories about the victory won by people who were considered incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu. This deity is considered the guardian of the universe. Its role is to restore the balance of good and evil in times of disaster.

In northern India, Diwali marks the triumphant return of Prince Rama to the city of Ayodhya. This happened as a result of a conspiracy by his evil stepmother. Rama was in exile for fourteen years. He heroically saved his wife Sita, who is the incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi and was kidnapped by the evil king Ravana.

Meanwhile, in South India, Diwali is celebrated as the victory of the god Krishna over the demon king Narakasura. He imprisoned 16,000 women in his palace and severely punished any of his subjects who dared to oppose him. In western India, the festival celebrates the exile by the god Vishnu of the king of Bali, whose immense power has become a threat to the gods, to the underworld.

Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists, three religious minorities in India, have their own stories about Diwali. For the Sikhs, whose religion originated in the late 15th century as a movement in Hinduism, especially dedicated to Vishnu, Diwali marks the liberation of the 17th century guru Hargobind. He was held captive by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir for twelve years. Jains are an ancient religion that dates back to the middle of the first century BC. She shares many of the beliefs of Hinduism. They celebrate Diwali as the day the god Mahavira, the last of the great Jain teachers, attained nirvana. Buddhists, whose religion arose at the end of the 6th century BC, celebrate this day as the conversion of the Hindu emperor Ashoka, who ruled in the third century BC, to Buddhism.

Apart from these stories, Diwali is also a festival of the Hindu goddess of wealth and fortune Lakshmi. In the early agrarian society of India, Diwali coincided with the last harvest before winter - a time to pray to Lakshmi for good luck. Today, Indian companies still consider Diwali to be the first day of the financial new year.

As Diwali celebrates

As the legends of Diwali differ from region to region, so do the rituals of this festival. Common are the abundance of sweets, family gatherings and the lighting of clay lamps, which symbolize the inner light that protects each family from spiritual darkness, but in general, each of the five days of Diwali has its own meaning. On the first day of Diwali, people pray to goddess Lakshmi, bake sweets and clean their homes. The next day, they decorate them with lamps and rangoli. Rangoli are drawings made of colored sand, powder, rice, or flower petals on the floor. The third day of Diwali is the most important: on this day, people can go to the temple to honor Lakshmi, or gather with friends and family for a banquet and fireworks. For many people, the fourth day of Diwali marks the New Year and a time to exchange gifts and best wishes. Finally, the fifth day is usually the day of honoring brothers and sisters.

Over the years, Diwali has become the largest and most lavish festival in India. Shops run holiday sales, and various communities across India hold fairs. Fireworks are also an important part of the festivities, especially in New Delhi, where they are often criticized for polluting the city, which is notorious for this flaw.

However, this year, the coronavirus pandemic has spoiled all these celebrations. Some temples will only broadcast on the Internet, and family gatherings will be more intimate than usual, if at all. Also, this year, New Delhi banned the use of firecrackers in the hopes of reducing the harmful effects of polluted air on the human respiratory system. After all, the lungs are especially vulnerable during a pandemic. In the US, the Indian diaspora will celebrate Diwali online.

Despite all these obstacles, the very meaning of Diwali suggests that light will eventually defeat darkness. All those who celebrate the holiday can receive consolation from this belief. The spirit of the holiday requires it.

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