Know Your Holidays - Diwali
- Diana Zhang and Angelina Xu
- Jan 25, 2021
- 3 min read
Hi everyone! The DAY (Dear Asian Youth) NOVA (Northern Virginia Chapter) editors are excited to introduce a new article on the Hindu holiday, Diwali.
I’m sure many of us have seen celebrations of Diwali on our social media platforms. However, some of us who may not be familiar with the Hindu culture likely would have been bewildered on November 14th, 2020 (Diwali’s date this year). Luckily, we are here to help!
Disclaimer: Since we (the writers) are not very familiar with the Hindu Culture, we apologize in advance for possible inaccurate or offensive information. We have no intention of offending any group.
---Angelina Xu and Diana Zhang
11/20/2020
Origins
In northern India, a common tale associated with Diwali is about King Rama, who was one of the incarnations of the god Vishnu (the preserver or sustainer aspect of God). As the notorious king in Lanka (some refer it to Sri Lanka) kidnaps Rama’s wife Sita, he “builds up an army of monkeys” to rescue her. The monkeys built a bridge over from India to Sri Lanka, and they invaded Sri Lanka to free Sita and killed the evil king. As Rama and Sita return to the north, millions of lights were dispersed across the city of Ayodhya to help them get home safely and to welcome them. Therefore, lighting lamps have long been one of the ways that Hindus celebrate Diwali.
In southern India, Diwali is popularly linked to a story about the Hindu Krishna, a
different incarnation of Vishnu. Krishna frees many innocent women from another evil king.
In the western state of Gujarat, the New Year coincides with Diwali (there are many New Years throughout India), and Diwali is associated with questing the goddess Lakshmi for prosperity in the coming year.
Traditions:
Some Diwali traditions include:
Exchanging sweets and gifts
Wearing new clothes
Watching firework displays
Cleaning and decorating homes
Lighting lanterns and candles
In order to authentically understand the holiday, we asked some of our friends who celebrate Diwali:
How did you celebrate Diwali and/or what does it mean to you?
“Yeah my mom’s friends came over and we lit sparklers”
---Anonymous
“[We] ate food, [lit] fireworks[-]a slightly dangerous fire tradition”
---Anonymous
“We made a bunch of sweets and put lights all over our house”
---Anonymous
“Yeah I hung out with some family friends”
---Anonymous
“We just lit sparklers”
---Anonymous
“So Diwali falls on November 14. So people celebrate it for different reasons but my family celebrates it because it marks the day that Rukmini Krishna’s wife (who is a god) defeated Narakasura. So we celebrate it by doing a small pooja which is basically a prayer to God with rituals. We also light diyas which are candles and are lit because on the day Rukmini killed the demon it was a no-moon night and everyone wanted to celebrate her victory but it was dark so they lit diyas. Then most importantly we light fireworks with family and friends. We light fireworks in celebration. It’s important to me because it’s part of my culture and it’s a lot of fun to spend time with family and friends.”
----Vaishnavi P.
Fun Facts
Lasts for 5 days! The date is based on the position of the moon.
Not only is the holiday celebrated by Hindus, but by Jains and Sikhs as well
Outside of India, Leicester, United Kingdom has the largest Diwali festivities
Diwali means “row of light” in Sanskrit, the ancient official language of India
Diwali is sometimes referred to as Deepavali
In Bengal, people celebrate the goddess Kali, who is the destroyer of evil. While in Nepal, people celebrate the lord Krishna’s victory over Narakaasura (a wicked king)
We hope you have gained some information about Diwali from this article! Thank you for reading!
P.S. Our literature contest ends on November 26th! So if you have anything you would like to share, please go to https://dearasianyouthnova.wixsite.com/home to submit your piece! There will be prizes!
Sources:
A special thanks to our friends who have given us information on Diwali
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