All About Diwali Festival

By Author: Ackley Cooper Shaw
Total Articles: 211
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The beauty about festivals is that they come with so much of positive vibes, pleasure and fun that they leave a lasting impression in our hearts. Diwali festival, the festival of lights, is no different. So what is Diwali all about? A typical answer would be it’s about lighting up the houses with “diyas”, replaced by electrical lighting mostly now, making and having savory sweets, giving and sharing gifts and Oh! many diwali bashes to attend. Which of course means a couple of new clothes too.

But let’s just go a little deeper and further into it. What is about Diwali festival that it is considered as the victory of good over evil? What is the origin of Diwali festival? There are variations based on the cultural affinity seeing that India is such a vast country of so many cultures. The most common variant is that this celebration started way back in the days of the Epic Ramayana. For want of the throne for her son Bharat, Rama’s stepmother had him banished from the kingdom of Ayodha for 14 long years. He embarks on the exile with his wife Sita and youngest step brother Laxman. During the period of his stay Sita ...
... gets kidnapped by the demon king Ravana and Lord Rama in the ensuing battle kills the demon King. Around the same time his exile ends and thus a victorious Rama reenters Ayodha with his entourage. The joy in the kingdom knows no bounds and the entire kingdom is decked up with “diyas” (oil lamps) and Rangoli (art form practiced in India where coloured powder/flowers is used to create patterns on the floor) and crackers are burst in sheer happiness. It is believed that since then Diwali has been celebrated with this fervor and excitement to welcome Lord Rama back.

Diwali always falls on a new moon night. In the eastern part of the country it is celebrated as “kali puja”. Kali is considered as the doppelganger of Devi Durga and is associated with lots of power and the capacity for black magic. She is thus widely worshipped in this segment of the country for power against evil. The night of her worship being a moonless one it is considered that evil is at its peak thus, the houses are all lit up to keep the evil at bay and crackers are burst to scare away demonic powers. The Puja is usually performed around midnight when her powers are at its peak and is preceeded by all the fun and fervor as every house contributes to help her keep evil at bay.

In the north of the country though, Diwali marks the day of puja of the lord of wealth, Laxmi. Everyone decks up in new clothes and worships the Devi first. It is then followed by celebrations that go into the wee hours of the morning.

However, it may have originated, the common factor to Diwali festival is lights, sweets, fireworks and rangoli.

Author's Bio: Ackley has penned down different write-ups on indian festivals.In this article he briefly describes many things concerning Diwali festival.