Diwali (Festival of Lights)

Diwali (Festival of Lights) 

Diwali (or Deepavali) is India's most known and celebrated event.
Diwali is an official  holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritis, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore and Fiji.

This Hindu celebration is known as the "festival of lights"as Diwali/Deepavali roughly translates to "row of lamps". The celebration involves lighting small clay lamps filled with oil to mark the triumph of good over evil. This celebration also involves the lighting of fireworks "crackers". The liveliness of lights are represented through the lamps and fireworks which are believed to drive evil away.

In Australia it may not be as celebrated, in large part due to the availability... although the fireworks are fun and exciting to use, such fireworks are definitely not sold here in Australia due to safety hazards.

Along with fireworks, at Diwali people buy new clothes as well as share and eat snacks and sweets with family and friends.
During the Diwali celebrations, the streets and rooftops of India are filled with people lighting fireworks that they bought from the many shops that sell them at the time.
With over 1billion people living in India, every celebration is like a giant community function.

The last time i was in India during Diwali was an unforgettable moment, we left India during the final moments of Diwali at 2am and the streets were still filled with people celebrating. The traffic was held up by one person who decided to put a long line of "Pattass" (fireworks) across the road which took a full 5 minutes to finish!

Here are some commonly used types of fireworks during Diwali...

 My personal favorite Diwali firework to light is the "Chakri"/"Chakra". This one spins when you light it! In the picture (left) the chakri is the round flat firework.  

(Below) This is a video on how the chakri works/looks when lit:
[YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG-s9VXwDCI]
As well as being a fun holiday and celebration, Diwali also marks a holy day in which celebrants show their part in being good and fighting over evil. It allows people to celebrate and have fun and shows the beauty of light in being symbolic of good heartedness.

(Left) The bigger fireworks in the sky.



- Madhu




REFERENCES
For Pictures (In order of use):
http://www.cellubeauty.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/105417-ankita-lokhande-wishes-happy-diwali1.jpg
http://orgs.unt.edu/isa/events/diwali.jpg
http://www.indolinks.com/websights/diwali/crackers1.jpg
http://prasanthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fireworks2012.jpg
For Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hG-s9VXwDCI