BE CAREFUL FRIENDS WITH CRACKERS
Deepavali the Festival of Light Deepavali is another name for the famous Hindu festival Diwali. This is a combination of two names, Dipa, which means lamp and Awali, which means row or line. So in essence, this festival is referred to as the festival of the row of lights. It is indeed essential in that it marks the beginning of the Hindu year. It is widely celebrated in India and elsewhere in the world, wherever Hindus can be found. It is marked by exploding lights, fireworks and so forth. After all, it is the festival of lights. Just why is the festival so colorful? Hindus celebrate it to mark the triumph of light over darkness. In Sanskrit, light means good and darkness means evil. Therefore, this is a celebration of good overcoming evil. During this celebration, all Hindu families light up little lanterns in their homes to welcome the New Year. It is a very important event to them.
The history of Deepavali Like most other important events in the Hindu calendar, the origin of Deepavali is deeply rooted in legend from the Hindu scriptures. It is based in the Puranas. There are several legends to explain how this colorful event started. This is a five-day festival where sweets are exhanged and the lights go up. In the streets of most cities in the world where there are Hindu communities, firecrackers rule the day.
The Indians and Nepalese believe that the origin of Deepavali is rooted on the return of Rama to Ayodha. It is believed that after Rama triumphed over Ravana and returned to ayodha with Lakshman and Sita after 14 years of exile in the forest, he or rather they, were greeted and welcomed by the lighting of lamps. That is where the event started and so every year, lamps are lit to signify that yet again, good has overcome bad.
There is more to the origin and legend behind this, because every day of the festival has its own story. For example, Hindus believe that on the second day of the festival, which is also called Narak Chaturdasi, Lord Krishna destroyed Narakasur the demon and liberated the world from a rule of terror from this horrible demon. However, the third day of the festival is perhaps the most important and it is the real Deepavali day because this is when the Hindus worship Mother Lakshmi. All the other days have their significance in this festival and in fact, it is a tourist attraction in India today. Many people go there to witness the cerebrations and the fact that it occurs after the Monsoon season, the weather is very favorable then.
The significance of Deepavali Make no doubt about the Deepavali, the festival of the lights and candles in India because it is celebrated everywhere in the world. It is a very important holiday, and it is the most important in India. No other festival can beat it, and even though Holi, the festival of color comes close, it is still nowhere close to this one. Thanks to the Hindu believe and adherence to their scriptures the world over, this festival has continually gained recognition the world over and in fact it grows in magnitude every year. It is the duty of every Hindu follower to uphold this festival and other Hindu traditions wherever they are in the world. That is also about lights where oil lamps with burners at the end are lit in all Hindu homes. It makes it hard to miss even in towns dominated by other communities. Five full days of generosity and happiness are hard to miss anywhere.
