The festival of light celebration: Diwali

I am still unsure how and what we are going to do to celebrate Diwali this year. We are having friends coming over for the evening.

Somehow I feel I need to keep certain Indian traditions for our daughter as well as introduce her to some of our familly traditions such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years eve...I guess I will need to speak to Bhavishya's God Father and his sister, who are Indians, and will see what we can come up with...

I know I shall cook some dahl, biryani, keema matar?, Moghklai spinach and tomato and onion cachumbar and Naan bread. I still need to find receipe for typical Indian sweets!

But what is Diwali anyhow?

Diwali is the festival of light that marks the Hindu new year. This year it falls on 21 October, but it depends on the lunar calendar.

How is it celebrate it?

Before sunrise, families anoint their heads with coconut oil and then wash their hair to rid themselves of any misortune from the previous year. They come together for prayer or pooja, when girls burn incense, ring little bells to evoke God and light camphor flame. They offer it to elders fro blessings and to make a vond with male relatives for protection.

In the evening, the family dress in new clothes and place small clay lamps filled with oil on windowsills and in doorways to welcome the Goddess of Prosperity, Lakshmi, into their home and to light the way for friends and relatives.



Once guests have arrived, the night becomes a coloufl, noisy night of gambling, firewords and biryani which tradionally was baked in a hole in the ground and then followed by a rich variety of homemade sweets.