Diwali that means rows of lights is referred to as the festival of lights. It falls on the last day of the last month of the Lunar Calendar. As many festivals are celebrated in India, and some of them are celebrated in some parts of the country only but Diwali is one of the happiest of the great Indian festivals that is celebrated all over India and most parts of the world. It is one of the grandest celebrations of Indo-Canadians. It is most important and colorful of the Indian Festivals that has both the traditions of Thanksgiving and Christmas. We give thanks to God and share good will with fellow human beings.
Diwali comes in late October or early November. It comes on the darkest night of the year. In Hindu philosophy darkness is compared to ignorance and lighting the lamp has significance of losing ignorance and gaining knowledge. It is a celebration of joy, brightness and happiness. Interestingly Diwali festival coincides with Halloween as it is celebrated in October/November every year. As the Halloween in the western world is traditionally associated with spirits and the dead, the Diwali is associated with victory of good on evil, sharing, caring, forgiving, and loving sentiments.
Diwali is held in memory of mythological and historical stories, which say that the evil demons were slain by many God incarnations. As on this day Lord Rama returned to his kingdom after fourteen years of exile. People rejoice because Lord Rama had conquered Ravana, a cruel king. He had conquered evil, and good had triumphed. Among the Sikhs, Diwali came to have a special significance on the return to its sixth master, Guru Hargobind who had been captive in the fort of Gwalior under the orders of Mughal emperor Jahangir. Guru ji also got 52 Hindu rajas (small kings) released from the prison of the king.
The celebration of Diwali is marked by the lighting of innumerable lamps in every courtyard and the bursting of crackers. Sweetmeats, new clothes etc., are there as in other festivals. Every home is cleaned, beautifully painted and decorated with flowers, garlands and colorful lamps. People go house to house to exchange gifts and sweets. They try to forget old grudges and wipe the slate clean. The time for rejoicing is mainly early morning and late night. These hours of darkness bordering the waking hours are preferred as lights and crackers are the highlights of the festivities and these need darkness to have their illuminating effect. Hence people rise early and go late to sleep. At night every building is lit with little lamps to attract the blessings of the Goddess of wealth, Lakshmi
In Hindu culture, this festival also seen as renewal of life. In Hindu custom Light signifies the goodness. This is a five days festival; each of the five days in the festival of Diwali is marked with a significant ‘puja’ of a certain God/Goddess. All the business people start new business calendars and celebrate their new year. They worship Goddess Lakshmi to bless their new account books. At temples, there are a lot of devotional music, singing and dancing as well as lots of food.
All Sikh temples, homes and businesses are generally illuminated during the week of Diwali celebration. Special prayer is made for the prosperity and well being of every one on the earth. The best and most attractive Diwali is celebrated at Golden Temple, Amritsar. The worshippers float multi-colored light candles on the water at the Golden Temple. The Gurdwara, hold a grand fireworks display. Lot of sweets and food are served.
Thus, the theme behind celebrating Diwali is “good conquering the evil”. From darkness we enter into light, and light empowers us to do good deeds and bring us closer to divinity. Therefore Our Diwali festival promotes social and practical purposes of sharing, caring, forgiving, and loving sentiments. This gives a message to fight with social evils as we have so many like drugs, prejudice, violence etc. Let us hope to fight these underlying demons with illumination of our inner lights.
