Hi Friends,
Diwali is a BIGGEST festival in India and right now, we are celebrating it!!! Diwali is known as Festival of Lights because, this is the festival where we light up numerous Diyas (deepams we call those) and we perform puja(worshipping) of Goddess Lakshmi to shower us with wealth and prosperity.
Diwali, according to Indian Mythology, started by Lord Rama and his family during the days of Ramayana when Lord Rama, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana returned from Sri Lanka after fighting with daemon Ravana and freeing Sita from him.
So, people welcomed them back to Ayodhya, the place where Lord Rama's kingdom was there, by lighting up diyas and distributing sweets and also fired crackers.
Since then, Diwali is being celebrated every year during the month of (November or October) to commemorate the return of Lord Rama and all.
So, the festival is full of lighting and we use something known as akash butti (lighted lamp) which is hanged with the help of a stick and will have lantern normally, but modern Ones will have light itself used inside the decorated paper cut art structure as shown above and it will look so colorful during nights.
It is the way Lord Rama and co were welcomed when they returned as each house welcomed them by lighting such lanterns.
Diwali and all the festivals in India will not be complete without the art works using powdered stone (we call it as Rangoli) where, colorful art works are created using colored powders.
During Diwali, the diyas are the main and we can see a diya drawn in this One shared above and also in the main picture shared as First One.
Ladies will spend hours to draw these art works and their patience during such festivals is commendable as they never feel tired to draw these and showcase their skills.
We also decorate the doors and frames with flowers and mango leaves as we treat those as auspicious and brings good omens.
The mango leaves especially, are believed to bring in prosperity and good health and every green leaf is a sign of goodwill.
Flowers, these days are more costlier and during festivals, those becomes even more costlier, but festival is a festival no matter how costly those are, flowers make an integral part of our festivals and Diwali is the biggest festival and flowers will be used.
No Diwali festival is complete without firing the crackers, kids will love tis festival for the crackers and sweets and crackers these days are mostly duplicates even though Governments insists on green crackers.
So, flower pots, charkas, kitkats, rockets, shots are common during the Diwali and even for small amount of crackers we pay about INR 2 to 3K which is about $30 to $35, but, as I mentioned, festivals will be treated with richness and nobody will think too much on spending money on these crackers, sweets and all as we celebrate Diwali once in a year and this is THE festival we all look for throughout the year.
The puja performing during festival is the main ritual as we perform puja of goddess Lakshmi, who is considered to be the Goddess of wealth and prosperity.
So, the shop owners perform puja during the Diwali asking Goddess Lakshmi's help in making them wealthy and prosperous and each house and each Hindu family will perform puja in their houses to invite Goddess Lakshmi by lighting Diyas during evening and performing puja with flowers and offering sweets.
The rituals will continue for generations and it's a reason for family unions and gives us a reason to meet our friends and family and share our feelings and joys and ofcourse helps in family bonding.
So, it was all worshipping, eating sweets, crafting artwork, firing crackers especially by kids and it's all we do for kids only as they are the Ones whom we want to keep happy.
Thankfully, the rain has kept away during days during this festival and kids could fire the crackers without any disturbance and they are full of joy with One more day of holiday today for them and will have to keep up with school activities from tomorrow once again and we are just left with Christmas now before the new year!!!!
And it was a well deserved break for me from the 9 to 5 job which is now getting extended on to the weekends as well some times.
Thanks for reading this and if you are an Indian, wishing I mean I hope you had a nice Diwali festival and enjoy your Sunday before getting back to work from tomorrow :)
P.S: All the images are my own and hence, no source is sighted for those.