Today is our biggest festival - Deepavali or Diwali
"Deepa" means lights or lamps and "vali" means necklace.
On this day people wake up early in the morning- before the sun comes up -like 3 or 4 A.M and take oil bath
and wear new dress and pray to God. And fun of all eat sweets and savories (prepared a day or two before) and fire crackers. And in the evening small "deepas/deeyas - oil lamps" are lit and the whole city lights up. And after that for 10 more days - lamps (though in smaller numbers) are lit. It is a beautiful sight to see.
This day as dependent on Hindu calender changes each year on Roman calender and this year it is today.
The legend behind it
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There is even an interesting legend behind this festival. The story goes that Narakasura, a demon, ruled the kingdom of Pradyoshapuram. Under his rule, the villagers suffered a lot of hardship as the demon tortured the people and kidnapped the women to be imprisoned in his palace. Seeing his wickedness, Lord Khrishna set out to destroy the demon and the day Narakasura died was celebrated as Deepavali, the triumph of good over evil!
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And here are some lovely links
8 comments :
very interesting and colorful. I went to the first link and everything looks so pretty especially the one in Singapore.
TFS!
Have a wonderful day and have some sweets for me!!! :) :) :)
Sounds festive, fun and beautiful!!! Enjoy!!!
Absolutely Beautiful!!! Thank you for sharing!!
Thanks for sharing your taditions with us!
Hi Pam,
Just started following your blog and from a fellow desi, here's wishing a happy Diwali. Can you come up with some papercrafting stuff for Diwali. It would be interesting to see.
Again, Wish you a Happy Diwali and a prosperous and creative year ahead!
Rama.
Happy Diwali, Pam!
Happy Diwali, Pam!! My husbands favorite Festival!! It is such a pleasure to be here for the celebration.
"kind encouraging and inspiring words"
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