Diwali

I just learned about the Indian festival ,Diwali.The doctor I work for is from India and we had the day off today, so he could spend the day with his family in observation of this holiday.I love learning about different cultures and their customs and religions.I asked the doctor to tell me about Diwali.

Diwali falls on a new moon day in the month of October or November.The word 'Diwali' is the abbreviation of the Sanskrit word 'Deepavali', which means 'rows of lights'. Diwali is a festival of lights,it is the biggest festival of India that celebrates the victory of good over the evil.

On this day people  clean their houses,wear colorful new clothes,aet delicious food and sweet treats,light candles and "Diyas" (small oil lamps)all around their house.Lakshmi-Puja is performed in the evenings when the tiny diyas of clay are lighted to drive away the shadows of evil spirits, devotional songs- in praise of Goddess Laxmi are sung and Naivedya of traditional sweets is offered to the Goddess.It is a tradtion to excange gifts with family and friends

The streets of India are colorfully decorated for this holiday and there are lots of fireworks!

Sounds nice doesn't it.If you think about it can be compared to Christmas for people in other parts of the world.It made me think,we are a lot alike,just with different ways of celebrating and believing...we're all human and should accept and love one another inspite of the differences.What a boring world it would be if we were all did the same things!