19 November 2013 / leggypeggy

Celebrating Diwali—the Festival of Light

celebrations, decorations, Diwali, holidays, India, overland travel, Pench National Park, Prayaan India Overland, travel

Cooking for Diwali by torch and candlelight

We’ve just seen this month’s full moon and it dawned on me that I hadn’t yet written about our Diwali celebrations, which happened two weeks ago on the new moon.

Popularly known as the Festival of Lights, Diwali (formally known as Deepavali) is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains throughout the world. Many countries declare Diwali an official holiday.

It is India’s most important holiday and, in past years, we’ve seen it widely celebrated in places such as Singapore and Burma (Myanmar).

In most parts of India, Diwali coincides with the end of the harvest season. As winter approaches here, it is a time for farmers to give thanks for a good crop and pray for a bountiful year ahead. Some businesses start their new financial year on the first day of Diwali celebrations.

For the most part, people celebrate Diwali with family. They pray to Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, light, prosperity and wisdom, and to Lord Ganesha, the ‘remover of obstacles’ and ‘lord of beginnings’.

Gary in a kurta

Before we even arrived in India, Deepti wrote to say our little overland ‘family’ would be marking the occasion with a simple celebration in a campground, but with decorations, fireworks and new outfits.

Renae was especially thrilled by the mention of fireworks. Quite a few years back, the place where we live in Australia banned ‘cracker night’, meaning no fireworks in the backyard.

Of course, for us to prepare for the festivities in style called for a couple of special shopping expeditions, including one to stock the van.

Whether you are rich or poor, two days before Diwali is everyone’s chance to go on a shopping spree. The shopping is compulsory. There’s even a name—Dhanteras—for the day. Silver and gold are the most popular purchases on Dhanteras, but we stuck to the 3Fs—food, fireworks and fashion.

My Diwali outfit failed the 3Fs policy I have for clothes. It did Fit (sort of), but it did not Flatter and it certainly was not Fashionable. Renae’s get-up was better, but Gary, Poor John and Anand did quite well. Gary even struck a pose. Deepti ‘cheated’ and wore an outfit she already owned.

Powdered chalk for Diwali decorations

Deepti finishes putting simple chalk designs around the campfire

We saved some of our Diwali requirements so we could make purchases on the roadside and the local market near our campground. We bought a woven bamboo decoration, an array of powdered chalk for making patterns on the ground, small clay candle dishes, a selection of fresh veggies and a couple of live chooks (Aussie slang for chickens). This would be the first of many times that we would buy our protein live—the best answer when refrigeration is limited or non-existent.

After a couple of safari drives in Pench National Park, it was back to camp for a simple and memorable Diwali event.

If you want to know more about Diwali, check out this interesting and informative blog post I found.