Hi! Welcome back to my blog! Today, I will be talking about Diwali. In case you don’t know, Diwali is the Hindu New Year. My family celebrates Diwali with several different traditions. Firstly, we do a pooja (a ceremony) where we pray. Also, we do something called rangoli. We usually make an elaborate design out of either colored rice or powder (although we usually do it with colored rice !). It’s so much fun! We do different designs every year, and this year we made a peacock design. I find it to be one of the most fun traditions we follow during Diwali.
Another tradition my family follows is having a Diwali feast with traditional Indian food. It’s all so delicious, and I love getting to eat all the foods that I don’t usually have during the rest of the year. Finally, my most favorite tradition that we follow is lighting the diyas. A diya is a clay lamp that is handmade and beautifully decorated with colorful designs. We usually place the diyas all over the house and put tea lights in them. Then, we light them!
Diwali is the festival of light, and is a time of celebration and happiness. Diwali also represents the victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance.
Diwali is celebrated because of an old Hindu legend. Ram and Sita were a couple. Ram’s evil stepmom kicked both Ram and Sita out of the palace so they had to live in the forest for 14 years of exile. One day, Sita saw a golden deer out in the forest. However, it wasn’t actually a deer. It was one of King Ravan’s servants, Maricha. Sita was lonely, so she told Ram and Lakshman to go and get that deer for her as a friend. Before they left, Lakshman drew a circle in the ground as a protection barrier. He told Sita not to step out of the circle, and she agreed.
However, Sita didn’t realise that she was about to be tricked. Once Ram and Lakshman were gone, Ravan appeared. He was not in his normal form then. He appeared as an old beggar. Ravan knocked on the door and begged Sita for food. Sita, having a kind heart couldn’t stand not giving him food, so she stepped out of the circle. Right at that moment, Ravan changed form and kidnapped Sita, flying her back to his palace. Ravan wanted Sita to be his wife and queen, which is why he kidnapped her in the first place. When Ram and Lakshman got back, they realised Sita was gone. With the help of Hanuman, they were able to save Sita.
Diwali represents the day they went back home and Ram became the king of Ayodhya. Diwali is one of my favorite times of the year, and I hope all of you also enjoy celebrating various festivals and understand the backstory behind it.
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