How Diwali Portrays the Light

Two weeks ago, I had our holiday lights put up. I remember that Friday because our home alarm went off (I’ll never know why the kids don’t check before opening doors in the middle of the night!), but I digress. Unfortunately, the police were dispatched to the house. They rang the doorbell, I answered it, and apologized profusely to the officer.

Not going to lie, he looked like an angel standing there with a halo around him because of the lights. He mentioned how he had just passed by our house 10 minutes earlier and commented on how nice the house looked, but he was surprised that the lights were already up.

Now many of you are probably thinking, “Wow, that’s early.?It’s only October.” Not for those of us of Indian ancestry. We live in a wonderful new town, really quaint, but obviously there aren’t many residents of Indian heritage living here.

I explained to him that Diwali was coming, typically celebrated in the month of October (it follows the lunar schedule, so it changes every year), and that the lights were on for that festival. He was really interested to learn more about why we put up the lights and what they represented. So, I thought I would share with all of you the explanation I gave him.

What is Diwali?

Diwali is the largest festival in all of India. Although each faith may have a different representation for it, in essence, it’s a celebration of the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, knowledge over ignorance.?Every Diwali, most Indians will begin preparing for the festival weeks in advance. It starts with a deep clean of your home; yes, you clean out your entire house.

I do believe cleanliness is next to godliness, but the week before Diwali we take it to a whole new level. We also put-up holiday lights in preparation for the holiday. Funny thing, I know we do this every year, it’s part of our culture, but then the officer asked me …

• Why do we clean our houses?
• Why do we light our homes?
• Why do we do prayers?

Umm… I didn’t know all the answers right away, but Sunny chimed in. The Goddess Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth and prosperity. She loves cleaning – a woman after my own heart. It is said that by cleaning our homes and getting rid of the clutter, we’re getting rid of the negativity in our homes, making way for inviting her to bless us.?She only comes to those homes on Diwali that welcome her, and she brings blessings of wealth and prosperity. That’s why people light their homes ― to light her way to their home.

As Diwali follows the lunar calendar, it is also seen as the beginning of the New Year.?And all across India we celebrate the start of the next year with firecrackers, fireworks, and lights.

Now, each faith has different reasons for celebrating during this time, and I truly don’t want to offend anyone by supposing to know the intricacies for each group. For my family, we go to our temple (gurdwara – literally translated as the house of god) and pray for positivity and prosperity for our home in the coming year.

Another big part of Diwali is the visiting.?We light our candles, turn on our holiday lights, and invite our friends and families into our homes. We give gifts of sweets, candles, dried fruit, or nuts.?Basically, our version of Christmas.

I hope this helped you understand a little more about why we celebrate the holiday, why it’s so important to us, and how you can understand and take part in our happiness. After all, understanding what is important to your colleagues and friends is an important part of accepting diversity.

Happy Diwali everyone! From our family to yours, we wish every MSP a prosperous year ahead.?