Diwali: The Festival of Lights

By Bhakti Shah


Diwali, the biggest Indian festival, was celebrated the past week. It’s popularly is known as the ‘festival of lights’ and marks the victory of good over evil. It also marks the beginning of the Indian new year. Diwali is typically celebrated for 5 days and each of these 5 days has it’s own significance.

This festival is of paramount importance and is in a country of over a billion people. Across the country, the people celebrate the important festival with great enthusiasm. Schools, colleges and businesses have official holidays for several days, similar to the Christmas holidays in the west.

The nature of this festival is very social. People celebrate this festival by performing various traditional activities with their relatives and friends. They worship the Gods, visit friends and families, and make a variety of sweets. They light oil lamps made of clay inside the house and in their courtyards. People decorate their houses with colorful lights and lanterns of different shapes. The use of firecrackers is so popular during this festival that the night sky glows with fireworks for 5 consecutive days. There is hardly a moment when you cannot hear a firecrackers noise or cannot see the fireworks lights in the night sky during Diwali.


The enormity of this festival is such that no one can escape it’s aura if they are anywhere in the country during this time of the year. I guess, it would not be an exaggeration to say that no other occasion on this planet is more social and colorful than the Festival of Diwali!

Reference Images: http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&biw=1280&bih=685&tbs=isch:1&aq=f&aqi=g10&oq=&gs_rfai=&q=DIPAWALI