Diwali

Diwali is the biggest Indian holiday and it’s a lot like Christmas in the US.  People put lights on their homes, give gifts, and hold a special prayer service the night of Diwali, which ends with lighting little clay lanterns around the house.  The traditional purpose is to attract Laxshmi, the goddess of wealth, to your home.   Fireworks are a huge part of the event as well; there don’t seem to be any laws regulative fireworks, or if there are, they’re not followed.  For about a week beforehand, people were lighting off fireworks and insanely loud firecrackers in the streets.  The night of Diwali, it was like a war zone with explosions going off everywhere on the ground and in the sky, and the air was heavy with smoke.

Our friend Devika invited us to her family’s home for Diwali, and to her friends’ place for a card party the night before.  We found out that “coming over for dinner” is different here…whereas in the US eating is one of the first things you do if you have a party that includes dinner, here it is generally the last thing on the agenda.  The night of the card party, we arrived around 9:00 but food was ordered around 10 and didn’t arrive until about an hour later, and even then most people didn’t help themselves to food until 2 am (I had gone to sleep with Oliver by that time and we didn’t come home until 4!).  The night of Diwali (Nov. 5), dinner wasn’t served until nearly 11pm and only then because we mentioned that it was late and that we needed to leave early the next morning to catch a bus. 

Other than the hunger, Diwali was a very neat experience.  Each family blesses their home with a prayer and offering.  We took our turn pouring puffed rice and sugar wafers into a bowl on the family’s altar.  Devika’s dad smeared saffron rice on everybody’s forehead, including Oliver’s.  Then he lit the main lantern on the altar, and everybody went around the house lighting the rest.  There were probably near 100 lanterns both inside and outside of their house.  The entry was decorated with paints and marigold petals.  Just like Christmas in the US, some families are very formal and some are not.  Devika’s family isn’t very formal, but it was fun to dress up anyway.  I wore my sari and Oliver wore a traditional kurta and funny pants (I forget what they are called.)