Diwali : As We Grow

Diwali is popularly known as “Festival of Lights”. For Hindus, Diwali is one of the most important festivals of the year and is celebrated in families by performing traditional activities together in their homes. For Jains, Diwali marks the attainment of moksha or nirvana by Mahavira. Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama, along with Sita and Lakshmana, from his 14-year-long exile and vanquishing the demon-king Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their king, the people of Ayodhya, the Capital of Rama, illuminated the kingdom with earthen diyas and by bursting firecrackers.

I am not going much deeper into history in this post. For more details on Diwali , please read this . To continue my series of As We Grow: Navratri ,  Friendship Day ,  I am going to write about change in the way of “Diwali” celebration.  For a child the most exciting part is they get Diwali vacation , lots of sweets and they can play games all the day with their friends after completing their Diwali homework. Moreover they have lots of fun by bursting firecrackers. For college students they plan to visit new places during small vacation. There is not much difference till they started working/become professional. Once they start working at some company they have only few days of leave. They could not enjoy much.However there is always celebration at compan but it is “professional” celebration For them the most exciting part is they can be at their home town for few days. Although if someone is working near his/her hometown , he/she can enjoy more. However the charm they had when they were child is gone.  For Mothers, they have lots of work to do. This is the time of year when they clean up old things . And they keep themselves busy making lots of sweets. My favorite sweets are ghughra , kaju katri . My mom makes the best ghughra. 🙂

After Diwali there is Hindu New Year (Often known as Vikram New Year). On this day people wish there relatives a new year. And almost for a week people visit their near relatives’ house to wish new year. Earlier people used to have communication with their relatives often but because of the modern  lives they are living sometimes they can see their relatives once a year and that is new year.Diwali is festival of five days.Dhan Teras(It is considered an auspicious day for buying utensils and gold, hence the name ‘Dhana’.) ,Naraka Chaturdashi (kali Chaudas) (It signifies the victory of good over evil and light over darkness) , Diwali , New Year (It is celebrated as the first day of the Vikram Samvat calendar, in Gujarat.), Bhai Bij (on this day, brothers and sisters meet to express love and affection for each other) People illuminate their houses with Diyas and during these days all houses look very beautiful. I want to give one suggestion: From whatever culture you belong , always try to enjoy each and every festivals because when you move to new area/country/culture you are going to miss your place.ex