Diwali Festival

By Faith Chanda

Diwali is one of the most important and meaningful holidays in the Indian calendar, and also my favorite. Not only is it the Hindu New Year, but it is a harvest celebration and festival of lights all in one joyful package.

I tell people who ask about our multicultural family that I’m “Indian by marriage” and I mean it. The best Diwali I ever spent was, of course, in India. We’d brought several of our most adventurous friends and family on a trip around India and arrived en masse at my in-law’s home shortly before Diwali. The house was abuzz with activity all day. Rangoli, traditional designs made with colored powder, decorated the floors, especially at the doorway, to welcome both guests and the Hindu goddess Laxmi, who represents wealth and prosperity. The designs are usually made painstakingly by hand and the detail in some designs is breathtaking. We each gave it a go and concluded that the wise folks who came up with templates to “hack” this task were on the right track! Mixed into the designs is always a set of footprints, which show that Laxmi has been there to bless the house. And with a house bursting at the seams with some of our best friends and extended family, we certainly felt blessed!

New clothing is usually worn on Diwali to symbolize a clean slate for the new year. The house was looking shiny and spiffy thanks to a thorough cleaning so as to be a most fitting venue for the goddess Laxmi to enter, bringing good luck for the coming year.

As anyone who cooks Indian food at home knows, the whole house smelled all day of the grand spread that would be served at the Diwali party that night. Something about the scent of the fresh vegetables being chopped, mixed with the spices hitting hot pans, was simply tantalizing (like the smell of the turkey roasting in the oven on Thanksgiving).

Hands down, the most meaningful part of the entire celebration is the lights. Small clay pots called diya filled with oil are placed all over the house (inside and out) and fireworks are set off, all as both a welcome and a warning. Friends, family, and good luck are welcomed by the shimmering lights. But bad spirits be warned: the loud noise is meant to scare them off and the light symbolizes the triumph of good over evil, drawn from the story of Lord Rama’s glorious return from exile or Goddess Durga’s victory over a demon. Either way the result is the same: truth and light win out, every time.

As daylight faded into a foggy night, the lights glowed brighter and the party kicked off. It was like a combination of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve. Friends and family arrived with gifts and there was enough food to feed a proverbial army. The music turned up and the revelry lasted long into the night.

The other thing that lasted? The bond we all shared: a group spanning three generations and hailing from five countries - and the sense that, for one brief moment, all was right with the world.