The victory of light over darkness, hope over despair, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil.
Diwali or Deepavali is a special festival in our culture, dedicated to the powerful Goddess Kali, symbolizing the victory of good over evil. There was a demon named Raktabija, who had the power to multiply himself with every drop of his blood falling on the ground. Goddess Kali, with her supreme divine powers, defeated the demon Raktabija by drinking his blood and preventing it from falling on the ground, thus preventing Raktabija to multiply himself. These were the beliefs given to us in our childhood, with a picture of Goddess Kali being potrayed as a dark-skinned deity adorned with a garland of skulls and a tongue sticking out from her mouth. She is known as another form of Goddess Durga - the fierce and compassionate form, worshiping her we can overcome obstacles, conquer on our inner demons and attain spiritual liberation. It's also believed that on this day, Lord Rama returned to Ayodhya on this day, after defeating the demon king Ravana and enlightened diyas to celebrate the victory of truth.
A lot of preparation goes beforehand at home for this sacred occasion, that includes full home cleansing once a year, and then decorating the home with diyas (oil lamps), symbolizing the victory of light over darkness. These diyas symbolize parts of the sun, the cosmic giver of light and energy to all life. In modern times many people illuminate their home with fancy lights and decorate it further by putting rangolis on the floor, along with diyas and candles. And on this day, as part of a special ancient ritual (which is specific to my place) named as Bada Badua Daka, we pay homage to our ancestors and seek their blessings, acknowledging the sacrifices they made to enable next generation, passing down the values and traditions. It's believed that spirits of our forefathers come back around us on Mahalaya and depart for the heavenly abode on Diwali. All members of the family unite and hold a bundle of jute sticks and then light(burn) them from a diya flame and raise it towards the sky , enchanting a specific verse together:
"ବଡ଼ ବଡୁଆ ହୋ, ଅନ୍ଧାରରେ ଆସ, ଆଲୁଅରେ ଯାଅ, ମହାପ୍ରସାଦ ଖାଇ ବାଇଶି ପାହାଚରେ ଗଡଗଡାଉ ଥାଅ।"
O forefathers, come to us in darkness, we light your way to heaven, eat Mahaprasad and attain salvation on the 22 steps of Lord Jagannath Temple.
All commercial shops also follow the same ritual of cleansing it once in a year, and worship Goddess Lakshmi, to bring them luck, wealth and prosperity in their business. You walk into any shop, they will offer you a token of love in the form of sweets / prasad. In fact it goes on for few days, they will have lot of packets ready to distribute and give it to their regular customers, when they visit. And for kids, this is the most special festival, to enjoy fire crackers.
Every year, I go to wholesale shops and bring a lot of fire crackers, but this year I got it from a local dealer, at a little higher price. Remember those childhood excitements to put them under sun, and going every now and then to check their status ? It's a lot of fun.
A local diya shop, from which I bought diyas. The market was pretty crowded yesterday.
I wish, the festival of lights illuminate all of our path and fill our life with love, joy and prosperity. And now let me present you some beautiful colorful decorations that our residents have done this evening to welcome this festival.
And we have also decorated our apartment and the temple very nicely.
So the mode is set for celebration, and we are all going to celebrate it together with some firecrackers, more to come on that.....
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