There are many Festivals of Light celebrated by religions and cultures around the world including Christmas, Chanukah, and Winter
Solstice observances familiar in the
West.
But none are more colorful or enjoyed with such gleeful abandon a Diwali, the Hindu festival of the victory
of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance. In most of the Northern Hemisphere the five day holiday began this year on November 19, but reaches its peak on
today, the third day of the celebration.
But this year India has reported more than 8.6 million
COVID-19 cases and more than 127,000
deaths, second only to the United States which has more than 10.2
million cases and nearly 240,000 deaths, according to data from John Hopkins
University. The rapid spread of the
virus through densely populated
India has been blamed largely on other religious
festivals this year celebrated by Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and local cults.
Each religion has it zealous observers and entrenched customs and has been deeply
suspicious that any attempt to curb
rituals and parades represents oppression and/or persecution by other groups.
Diwali is more
widely observed than any other festival and is celebrated not only by Hindus
but by Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists and secular
Indians, and even unofficially by some Muslims.
The national and Indian state governments are trying to
discourage the traditional large public gatherings and emphasizing family gatherings and on-line observances but are loathe to enforce lockdowns or bans
in fear of stoking religious rebellions
and riots. The national government is in the hands of Hindu nationalists and is especially reluctant.
The large Indian
diaspora in the United Kingdom, South Africa, the Caribbean, Canada, Fiji, the United States and elsewhere face restrictions which will put a damper on South Asians’ most visible celebrations that have extra elements of cultural pride and claiming
a part of the larger societies in which they live.
A lot of lights
will have to be lit to dispel this particular darkness.
Typically during
the celebration, temples, homes, shops, and work places
are brightly illuminated. In most of India the climax of the festival occurs on the third day coinciding with the darkest
night of the Hindu solar month Kartika. In the Gregorian calendar, it generally falls between mid-October and
mid-November.
Young women of the Hindu diaspora light diyas.
During the climax, revelers adorn themselves in their finest
clothes, illuminate the interior and exterior of their homes with diyas
(oil lamps or candles), offer puja (worship) to Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity
and wealth, light fireworks, and enjoy family
feasts, where mithai (sweets), and gifts
are shared.
Details of the celebration vary across regions and
even the names of each feast day change with local dialects and languages. In much of southern India and in Sri Lanka Tamils celebrate the first
day of Diwali as most significant. Diwali
is also a major cultural event for Jains and other religious minorities on the Indian Subcontinent. The Sikhs
celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas to
mark the release of Guru Hargobind from a Mughal Empire prison, Newar
Buddhists, unlike other Buddhists, celebrate Diwali by worshipping Lakshmi,
while the Bengali Hindus generally
celebrate Diwali, by worshipping Goddess
Kali. Except for Muslims and the small minority of
Indian Christians, pretty much the
whole country takes off to party.
William Simpson labelled his chromolithograph of 1867 as Dewali, feast of lamps. It showed streets lit up at dusk, with a girl and her mother lighting a street corner lamp
The Diwali festival is likely a fusion of harvest festivals in ancient India. It is mentioned in Sanskrit texts such as the Padma Purana and the Skanda Purana both of which were completed in the second half of the 1st Millennium CE. The diyas are mentioned in Skanda Kishore Purana as symbolizing parts of the Sun, describing it as the cosmic giver of light and energy to all life and which seasonally transitions in the Hindu calendar month of Kartika.
Most British, Commonwealth, and North
American Hindu communities have their roots in the north of India and
commonly celebrate these five days:
Day One—Dhanteras
marks the beginning when people traditionally purchase some gold or silver or at least one or two new cooking utensils for good
luck.
Day Two—Narak
Chaturdasi is also called Choti
Diwali when people take oil baths before
sunrise with ubtan, a homemade paste of herbs that can be used as a
soap, and a face or body mask.
Day Three—Lakshmi
Puja is the main and most festive day of the festival when people keep the
house spotlessly clean and pure to welcome goddess Lakshmi. After a day of
fasting sweets and gifts are shared. Lamps are lit in the
evening, and Lakshmi puja, a home religious observance celebrating the
goddess with chants, mantras, and honoring of ancestors. Celebrations spill from homes and businesses
into the streets with more lamp lighting, singing
and dancing and public fireworks.
Day Four—Govardhan
Puja or Padwa celebrates the
love between husband and wife in commemoration of Parvati and her husband Shiva as well as the lifting the Govardhan mountain by Krishna to save a cowherd and farming
communities from incessant rains and
floods triggered by Indra’s anger. It is thus also a harvest fest and day of thanksgiving marked by Annakut, the mountain of food. Communities prepare a meal over one hundred dishes from a variety of ingredients,
which is dedicated to Krishna before shared communally. Hindu temples on this day prepare and present
mountains of sweets to the faithful
who have gathered for darshan, a visit. In Gujarat, the day is also called Annakut is the first day of the new year and celebrated through the purchase of sabras, the good
things in life, such as salt,
offering prayers to Krishna and
visiting temples.
Day Five—Bhai
Duj celebrates the bond between brother
and sister. Women of the family gather, perform a puja
with prayers for the wellbeing of
their brothers, then return to a ritual of feeding
their brothers with their hands and receiving gifts. In some Hindu
traditions the women recite tales
where sisters protect their brothers from enemies
that seek to cause him either bodily or spiritual harm. Often brothers travel to meet their sisters, or invite their
sister's family to their village to celebrate their sister-brother bond with
the bounty of seasonal harvests.
Variations on these are almost infinite in the complex world of Hinduism and customs can even
vary from village to village in the same regions. But the joy of the season is celebrated by
more than 800 million people worldwide making it one of the largest religious festivals on the planet.
No comments:
Post a Comment