Diwali: The Festival of Lights

Diwali:

The Festival of Lights

Ranjani is back with another post!!!

Last week, I told you about two of the stories behind Diwali.

Saturday and Sunday were celebrated as Diwali, and there was joy and fun everywhere with family and friends. Technically, Saturday was celebrated as Diwali for South Indians while Sunday was celebrated as Diwali for North Indians.

Diwali is actually a 5 day festival in North India.
 Day 1: Dhanteras 
     On this day, people buy gold, new vessels, and other things related to the Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth).
 Day 2: Choti (Small) Diwali or Naraka Chaturdasi 
     On this day, it's just a small pre-Diwali celebration, so they light a few diyas (lamps).
 Day 3: Diwali 
     The actual Diwali celebration take place on the third day, which happened on Sunday, October 30 this year.
 Day 4: Govardhan Pooja 
     On Govardhan Pooja, Lord Krishna is worshiped. Lord Krishna once lifted an entire mountain, Govardhan Parvat (mountain), and held it on his little finger to shelter the people of his village from a terrible storm caused by an upset Lord Indra. To celebrate this, people prepare sweets that are said to be Krishna's favorite.
 Day 5: Bhaidooj 
     Bhaidooj is a day to celebrate brothers. On this day, sisters put a tilak on their brother's forehead and pray for their long life. They feed their brother sweets and their brother in return give his sister gifts.

On Diwali, it is traditional to light diyas (lamps).

People also bust firecrackers and light fireworks on Diwali! There are a great many types of firecrackers and fireworks. I use the distinction firecrackers for the explosive types, typically burst during the day, and fireworks for the beautiful types that produce light and are usually lit at night. My faves are the sparklers, flower pots and rockets! Although, in recent years, many people have begun to avoid crackers due to the immense noise and air pollution, they remain a definite mark of Diwali.

This is a satellite picture taken by NASA from space of India on Diwali in 2011. The entire country is lit up with lights from the festival!

In the below video, you can see different kinds of firecrackers and fireworks one typically sees on Diwali in India. You see them in this order: 

1. Flower pot

2. Redford garlands, called walas, that typically come in strings of 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, and 10000. They are therefore called 100-wala, 200-wala, 500-wala, and so on.

3. Some kind of small explosive, categorized under atom bombs.

4. Chakkars, or Chakram in Tamil.

5. A rocket.

Shivakasi is a village in India that is entirely dependent on the sale of firecrackers and fireworks for Diwali. The village specializes in making firecrackers and fireworks all year long for Diwali. You can check out the 2016 list of fireworks!

On Diwali, it is also a custom to wear a new outfit. This, of course, is only supposed to be prohibited if someone has died in the family that year, although the rule is not enforced and it depends entirely on your family.

People spend time with relatives for this festival. Sweets of all varieties and snacks like ‘murukku’, ‘ribbon pakoda’ and ‘thattai’ are prepared (usually beginning from a few days in advance because it takes so much time to make all this stuff) and distributed among family, friends and neighbors on Diwali.

Sweets and snacks prepared for Diwali at my aunt's house for Diwali 2016

Thanks to my friend Bhargav, and some Whatsapp group chats with family and friends, I have acquired videos of the beautiful firecrackers and fireworks of Diwali. 

The above two videos are of Flower Pots.The second one is in slow motion! The one below is of other fireworks similar to flower pots. Notice that the firecrackers and fireworks are lit by sparklers in the video.  In India, they are also usually lit by incense sticks.

Here is a fireworks show on Diwali!

That's me in a half saree with a sparkler. My dad's standing behind me. Happy Diwali!