Diwali: the festival of lights, sweets and fireworks

Events & Happenings — By on October 17, 2009 at 10:00 AM

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With the festive season right around the corner, we can already see homes lit up with lanterns and decorated with beautiful rangolies. It is the best time for kids who are busy building their clay forts, feasting on the festive sweets of Diwali or lighting up the dark sky with vibrant fireworks. This is the time of year when we all leave our differences behind and come together with family and friends to exchange sweets and celebrate one of the biggest festivals of our country.

We all know how Diwali is celebrated but how many of us really know why we celebrate this festival. So let’s take a ride back in the past to learn about the origin of the festival of light and what each day signifies. Diwali denotes victory of good over evil. Diwali came to be celebrated when Lord Ram returned to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and after defeating Ravana, one of the most intelligent and powerful demons in Indian mythology. To celebrate the return of Lord Ram, his wife Sita and brother Lakshman, the people of Ayodhya lit the entire city with clay lamps and distributed sweets in joy. Lord Ram being one of most devoted gods in Hinduism, the festival of Diwali holds great importance among Hindus and every day of the festival signifies something important.

Naraka Chaturdhashi, the first day of Diwali, marks the death of Naraka -the devil at the hands of Lord Krishna and his wife Satyabhama.  Lakshmi Pujan is another important day of Diwali and it is believed that on this day, the goddess Lakhmi, is in her best mood and is willing to visit every house that is sparkling clean and bless them with wealth. Hence, on this auspicious day we perform a puja of all our assets and deck up our homes with rangolies and flower garlands to welcome the Goddess of Wealth.

Kartika Shudda Padyami is celebrated to remember the powerful Bali who was sent to rein patal lok by Lord Vishnu. On this day Bali is known to come out of pathal lok to rule bhuloka as per the blessings of Lord Vishnu. This day is also known as Bali Padyami.

Bhai Bheej or Yama Dvitiya was the day when Yama- the death god, visited his sister who put tilak on his forehead and exchanged sweets with her brother. Touched by this gesture Yama announced that he would bless each one who gets the auspicious tilak on their forehead and from that day onwards this day is celebrated in Diwali every year to mark the bonding between brothers and sisters.

And for all these reasons and more we celebrate Diwali, a festival which unites one and all in celebration of all that is good in this world. We at Punekar, wish you and your family a very happy and safe Diwali.

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  • http://www.windowexhaustfandeals.com camelia willam

    Hallloweem.
    Well, our Halloween this year was a strange one.
    I won’t say it was a non-event, but it went from being an entrenched tradition to…
    well, let’s say a scattering and a smattering.
    Every year, for as long as we’ve had children, we’ve spent Halloween at my parents.