“Oh! Diwali, it is our biggest festival. We do lots of things,” I said.
“Like what?” she asked again.
“We prepare lots of sweets for the occasion, lavish lunch and dinner is cooked. We clean and decorate our homes. We do Pooja and then burst crackers. We visit our relatives and Elders,” I blurted out in one breath.
“But, those all even we do here. So what is so different and special about your celebrations?” she was not yet satisfied.
“Arre! We do it on a grand scale. We do it religiously. We make 20 kinds of sweets.. blah blah blah…”I uttered some crap. I knew, I was talking crap. For, I was thinking about something else. Two things to be specific:
- Why was she so adamant on finding the difference between the two cultures? “You north Indians” or “your celebrations” these words were too irritating for me.
- Do I really know how do we celebrate Diwali?
There are some old believes and customs that form the core of the festive spirit. I clearly remember them from the essay I wrote in class 6th. Following are the significance of 5 days that constitute the Diwali festival:
1. Dhan Teras: Day of money. Decorate shops and business premises. Shop (specially metal).
2. Narak Chaturdashi: Take bath before sunrise and celebrate Krishna’s victory over Narkasur.
3. Lakshmi Pujan: Worship goddess of wealth. Start new business season, burst crackers.
4. Padwa: Start of new year. Govardhan Pooja and Annakut.
5. Bhai Dooj: Meet your sister and get the Tika done, eat sweets and pray for her happy life.
How many of us actually do all this? I never did. For me Diwali was a time of eating sweets, bursting crackers and chilling out with friends. That’s all I have done my whole life and I don’t think here in south I will do something different.
4 comments:
somehow after school the whole effect of festivals has been lost to me..i dont look forward to them in any measure more than any other non-festival though happy occasion.. i'm a little happily surprised that ppl buy clothes and do stuff esp. for one occasion..if left to me i wudnt wait for diwali and instead burst crackers on a quiet monday evening..
to sum up i cant understand how so many, if not all, people can be happy together at the same time..cos obviously things r not the same for everyone at diwali, holi, durga puja..
@satya(he heh): isn't that the beauty of it.. people can just forget everything and be happy on that that say.. they enjoy diwali in whatever small scale they can celebrate.. the feeling of good-will all around is way too infectious..
when we had gone to Hosur to buy crackers, we saw people were packing enough gun-powder to blow Pakistan up.. but there was also this post-middle-aged man,with a 7-8 year old kid, on a luna.. and they had bought a mere handful of crackers.. that was the happiest kid i have seen in days....
ya i guess when your questioned about "your culture" and it's made to sound like it's something different, you try and find differences, because you assume there are diff. also i'm sure north indians ceebrate diwali differently depending on whetehr they're from punjab or raj or haryana and its not all the same
Happy Diwali and really great post on diwali festival celebration. really informative post on diwali festival.
Diwali, the festival of light, and one of the biggest festivals of Hindus is celebrated with much enthusiasm by the Indians. It is also a gift giving and perfect time for new shopping. people exchange special Diwali Gifts and Happy wishes for Diwali festival. But people who are living far from india they send online diwali gifts to india and celebrate this festival.
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