Diwali

It’s time for vibrant colours, eye-popping fireworks, twinkling lights and delicious food! Ready? Then check out our ten facts about Diwali… When is Diwali 2022? The exact dates change each year but this year, Diwali falls on Monday 24 October. Facts about Diwali 1) Diwali is an important religious festival originating in India. People often think of Diwali as a Hindu festival, but it is also celebrated by Sikhs and Jains.* 2) Diwali takes place annually and lasts for five days, marking the start of the Hindu New Year. The exact dates change each year and are determined by the position of the moon – but it usually falls between October and November. 3) The word Diwali (or Deepavali as it’s sometimes called) means “ row of lights” in an Ancient language of India, called Sanskrit. During this festival, people decorate their homes with lights and oil lamps, called diyas. 4) For many people, Diwali honours the Hindu goddess of wealth, Lakshmi. The lights and lamps are said to help Lakshmi find her way into peoples’ homes, bringing prosperity in the year to come! 5) It’s also a celebration of good triumphing over evil, and different legends based on this theme are associated with Diwali. In northern India, Hindus celebrate the return of the deities (gods) Rama and Sita to the city of Ayodhya, after defeating the evil king Ravana! 6) In the region of Bengal people worship the goddess Kali, the destroyer of evil forces, during Diwali. And in Nepal (a country bordering ...

Diwali Diwali, the festival of lights is indeed the most awaited and the most celebrated festivals of India. People in every nook and cranny of the country welcome the festival with enthusiastic gestures. This wonderful festival is the celebration of five days. On the third day of the celebratory occasion, the key rituals of the Diwali festival take place. Lighting of Diyas and candles all around the house, worshipping the Laxmi Ganesha to summon health and wealth and bursting crackers are the chief rituals of the festival. In addition to that, the exchange of heartfelt gifts during Diwali these days have become a mandatory part of the celebration. Friends, families, and colleagues share with each other Diwali gifts as a gesture of showing love and affection. Also, special and grand feast with delicious food that mandatorily includes different varieties of sweets is the special attraction of the occasion.

Observances of Diwali differ depending on region and tradition. Among Hindus the most widespread custom is the lighting of diyas (small earthenware lamps filled with oil) on the night of the new moon to invite the presence of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Diwali is generally a time for visiting, exchanging gifts, wearing new clothes, feasting, feeding the poor, and setting off fireworks (though such displays have been restricted to limit noise and other environmental pollution). All About Diwali Quiz During the festival, rangoli, consisting of elaborate designs made of colouredrice, sand, or flower petals. The doors and windows of houses are kept open in the hope that Lakshmi will find her way inside and bless the residents with wealth and success. The names and events of the individual days of Diwali are as follows: The first day, known as Dhanteras, is dedicated to cleaning homes and purchasing small items of gold. Lakshmi is the focus of worship on that day.The second day, called NarakaChaturdashiorChotiDiwali, Lakshmi Puja, families seek blessings from Lakshmi to ensure their prosperity; light diyas, candles, and fireworks; andvisittemples. It is the main day of the Diwali festival. The fourth day, known as GoverdhanPuja,Balipratipada,or Annakut, Bhai Dooj, Bhai Tika, or Bhai Bij, celebrates the bond between brothers and sisters. On that day sisters pray for the success and well-being of their brothers. Diwali is generally a time for visiting, exchanging gifts, weari...

jayk7/Getty Images The Diwali festival occurs in late October or early November. It falls on the 15th day of the Hindu month of Kartik, so it varies every year. Each of the four days in the festival of Diwali is marked with a different tradition. What remains constant is the celebration of life, its enjoyment, and a sense of goodness. According to one belief, the sound of firecrackers indicates the joy of the people living on earth, making the gods aware of their plentiful state. Still another possible reason has a more scientific basis: the fumes produced by the firecrackers kill or repel many insects, including mosquitoes, which are plentiful after the rains. Rise and shine. Waking up during the Brahmamuhurta (at 4 a.m., or 1 1/2 hours before sunrise) is a great blessing from the standpoint of health, ethical discipline, efficiency in work, and spiritual advancement. The sages who instituted this Deepawali custom may have hoped that their descendants would realize its benefits and make it a regular habit in their lives. Those with keen inner spiritual ears will clearly hear the voice of the sages, "O children of God unite, and love all." The vibrations produced by the greetings of love, which fill the atmosphere, are powerful. When the heart has considerably hardened, only a continuous celebration of Deepavali can rekindle the urgent need of turning away from the ruinous path of hatred. Illuminate your inner self. The lights of Diwali also signify a time of inner illumin...

Every year around October and November, Like many Hindu festivals, there isn’t just one reason to celebrate the five-day holiday. Many of these stories are about the triumph of good over evil. In northern India, a common tale associated with Diwali is about King Rama, one of the incarnations of the god Vishnu. When an evil king in Lanka (which some people associate with Sri Lanka) captures Rama’s wife Sita, he “builds up an army of monkeys” to rescue her, Jain says. The monkeys “build a bridge over from India to Sri Lanka, and they invade Sri Lanka and free Sita and kill that evil king,” he says. As Rama and Sita return to the north, “millions of lights are spread out across the city Ayodhya just to help them come back home, just to welcome them.” Lighting lamps has long been one of the ways that Hindus celebrate Diwali. A Pakistani Hindu family offers prayers and light candles as they mark Diwali, the Festival of Lights, in Lahore, 2016. In the south, Diwali is popularly linked to a story about the Hindu god Krishna, a different incarnation of Vishnu, in which he frees some 16,000 women from another evil king. In the western state of Gujarat, the New Year coincides with Diwali (there are multiple New Years throughout India), and Diwali is associated with asking the goddess Lakshmi for prosperity in the coming year. During the festival, many celebrants exchange gifts and coins. Other religions like Narayanan says that in the past century or so, fireworks became a major par...

Yesterday marked the start of the five-day festival of Diwali, celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs around the world. During Diwali, originally a harvest festival, lamps are lit to celebrate the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. Families gather, fireworks are set off, candles and oil lamps are lit, and prayers for prosperity are offered to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Collected below are images from this year’s festival, as celebrants color their world, give prayers, and wish one another a happy Diwali.