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How to celebrate Diwali in India

Mariellen — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 04:25:46 +0000

Photo courtesy San Sharma

Happy Diwali!

How to enjoy the Festival of Lights

Diwali means “rows of lighted lamps” and it is also called the Festival of Light. It is the most enthusiastically celebrated festival in India — which is saying a lot! Diwali is the equivalent of Christmas — a big, festive celebration that brings families together and is the highlight of the holiday season. There are five days of festivities, each marked with different pujas (prayers) and rituals.

I love Diwali, and though I have only spent one Diwali in India, I remember it fondly. I went shopping with Ajay’s mother for gifts, decorations, flowers and sweets a few days before, and on the morning of Diwali she had me decorating the family mandir before my eyes were completely open. Later, I helped fill hundreds of small diyas with oil and wicks, and then place and light them around the terrace and down the stairs, etc. In the early evening we had a puja in the mandir, which was my favourite part of the entire day. And at night, we joined the millions of other Delhi-ites blasting fireworks and firecrackers into the night sky. It was deafening and created hazardous smog, but I appreciated the gusto with which people were celebrating.

There are lots of other places to celebrate Diwali in India; read on for some suggestions culled from Breathedreamgo Twitter and Facebook friends.

The meaning of Diwali

The festival celebrates the triumph of good over ill, and the ascendancy of light over dark. The diyas symbolize this, and also help light the way for Rama’s return from exile, after rescuing his wife Sita and vanquishing the demon Ravana, with the help of Hanuman. This is the drama played out in the Hindu epic, The Ramayana, which is one of the major texts underpinning Hinduism and Indian culture (along with the Vedas, the Upanishads and the Mahabharat).

Where to go to celebrate Diwali in India

I have only celebrated Diwali in Delhi, but I know festivities occur all over the country. I asked my Twitter followers and Facebook friends where to go to celebrate Diwali, and this is what they came back with.

Twitter 

protectwildlife Varanasi. All the ghats are decorated and lit up with oil lamps, its a spectacular sight. A night to remember in the ancient town.

YogeshMali: Home is where the heart is, and also the best place to celebrate Diwali.

 AboutIndia’s Sharell Cook: For Diwali, Jaipur has amazing lights and Goa has burning of demon effigies. (Here’s a link to About India’s Diwali in Goa post.)

Facebook

Roma: Jaipur is awesome during Diwali as the different markets and plaza compete for the “Best Decorated” award. I have also visited Golden Temple, Sri Harmandir Sahib, in Amritsar, which is again a treasure of a Diwali memory as they put out thousands of earthen pots.

Deepa Krishnan of Delhi Magic and Mumbai Magic: It’s not a ‘public’ festival. There are places where you can get glimpses if you are tourist; like for example in Mumbai if you go to Shivaji Park in the evening you will see people of the neighbourhood bursting crackers. But that’s about it. The celebration is mostly indoors. I put my guests in homestays, if they come for Diwali or Holi; that way they can experience the festival.

Photographer Sunil Vaidyanathan: In the potters village of Kumbhar Wada in Dharavi, Mumbai.

Ram Vakkalanka: Indian festivals have deep spiritual significance, apart from the celebratory/fun aspect. They almost always involve performing Puja to one of the Deities. Most of the time, they are celebrated at home with family and friends in a Satsang-type of celebration. Of course, India is also catching up with US, with retailers celebrating the festivals more vigorously than people themselves.

Lachman Balanai: After the puja (prayer) to Goddess Lakshmi (to bless your home with wealth and prosperity) or Ganesh, it is always good to get together with your extended family and have fun. Gifts are exchanged and love is shared. It’s all very cool. Everyone shares their interpretation of the Ramayana. Diwali is the festival that unites all of India, like New Year’s unites all of the world. It is in fact our New Year, where old account books are closed and new ones opened. Fireworks are lit. Warm feelings all around.

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Top 6 photographs of Ganesh festival

Mariellen — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:12:46 +0000

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from Goindia.About.com

Happy birthday Ganesh!

He’s one of the most beloved gods in India; rotund, elephant-headed and multi-armed; the son of Lord Shiva and his consort Parvati — Ganesh is the first god honoured during pujas, and he is the bestower of luck and remover of obstacles.

In honour of Ganesh Chaturthi — the 10 days of birthday celebrations and worship — I am posting some of the best photos I have seen of the massive parade and the immersion of the clay Ganesh idols in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Mumbai.

The photo above is from the GoIndia.About.com site — which has a great guide to Ganesh Chaturthi — how the idols are made, where the best ones are located, etc. The editor, Sharell Cook, lives in Mumbai and stays on top of happenings there and in India in general. It’s a great resource for news, information and fascinating stories. Following are the other five top photos.

The photo below is by Sephi Bergerson, a travel and documentary photographer based in India. He is running a photo workshop in Mumbai for Ganesh Chaturthi (plus, he has other photo workshops on his site — such as Indian street food — that look equally interesting).
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The photo below comes from The First Post’s Pic of the Day page. An edited version of this pic is my Photo of the Week.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from TheFirstPost.co.uk

These two photos, below, come from Boston.com’s The Big Picture feature. There are 36 eye-catching photos in total in this feature, which covers several exuberant and colourful Hindu festivals.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from Boston.com

This photo, below comes from Digg Mumbai -- a site all about Mumbai, for Mumbaikers.

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India from DiggMumbai.com

If you enjoyed this post, you can….

Get updates and read additional stories on the Breathedreamgo Facebook page.

Buy Song of India, a collection of 10 feature stories about my travels in India.

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Thank you for reading. Please visit Breathedreamgo or stop by my Facebook page at Breathedreamgo.

Photo of the Week: Holi

Mariellen — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:28:23 +0000

photograph of people playing Holi in India by Dave Bouskill, PicturethePlanet.com

Photo of the Week: February 2011

I love this photo by Dave Bouskill of Picture the Planet. It’s of Holi, of course, the festival of colour, a celebration that everyone in India loves and plays with unabashed gusto. Holi ushers in Spring, which is probably why it is such an energetic, even frenzied, celebration. I’ve been in India for Holi three times: I played once with my fellow ashramites in Rishikesh and twice with my family in Delhi. Like many of the holidays in India, Holi is a family-oriented celebration, and includes other rituals like eating sweets and — as always in India — just spending lots of time with each other, drinking tea and being together.

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Celebrate Diwali and win a trip to India

Mariellen — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 02:02:25 +0000

The meaning of Diwali

Diwali in India is like Christmas in Canada. It’s the biggest festival of the year, celebrated all over India, with lights, firecrackers, flowers, parties and pujas. Diwali (or Deepavali) celebrates the return of Lord Rama and Sita from exile, and the triumph of light over dark. This year, 2010, it takes place on November 5, on the new moon night, so the sky is absolutely dark — the better to see the firecrackers that people set off in an absolute frenzy. If you are Canadian, you can celebrate Diwali by entering a contest to win a trip to India.

The upcoming year, 2011, is the the Year of India in Canada, and the good folks at IndiaTourism are sponsoring a WIN A TRIP TO INDIA! contest, along with Absolute Tours and my friends at Indus Travels — who are my partners for my BreatheDreamGo trips to India. By the way, the tours are closing in mid-November 2010, so if you want to go to India with me this winter, act now by filling out a booking form.

The meaning of Diwali

It is no coincidence that the festival of light is held at this time of year, when the days shorten and darken, leaving summer behind and ushering in winter. The profusion of diyas and firecrackers lighting up houses and the night sky remind people to keep the light within themselves alive, and not let the dark days overpower them.

I have been in India only once for Diwali, and it was a very special experience. I helped Ajay’s Mom and niece buy murtis (statues of the gods), flowers, diyas and gifts; and I helped decorate the prayer room with garlands of marigold flowers and the house with hundreds of tiny diyas. Diyas are small earthenware lamps filled with oil and a cotton wick. In the evening, the family held a puja in the prayer room — it was my favourite event. Afterward, we went outside onto the big marble terrace to shoot our store of firecrackers up into the sky over Delhi. It was crazy. Millions of people lighting off all kinds of noisy fireworks for hours and hours, lighting up the dark night — and creating a toxic haze! (The air pollution was appalling! Ajay and I drove to a party on Diwali night and could barely see the road in front of us for the thick smog. Luckily there were very few cars on the road, but we did come across a car traveling on a major one-way road — the wrong way!)

Taking part in the Diwali puja, Delhi, 2008

Diwali is based on the story of Rama and Sita. The Ramayana is one of two major epics that form a cultural foundation in India (the other is the Mahabharat, the story of the war between the Pandavas and the Kauravas. The Bhagavad Gita comes from this epic.) It’s hard to over-estimate the importance the Ramayana has had on the development of Indian culture and society, including into the present. One of the most contentious political issues, domestically, in India over the past few years has been the fight for control over the site of Rama’s birthplace in Ayodhya. It is a complicated issue about which religion, or religious sect, has title to the land, and has caused riots, the destruction of a mosque in 1992 and a lengthy court cases that was settled in September 2010.

Also, people still consider Rama to be the ideal man, embodying all the values and virtues that Indian society cherishes. He is considered one of the supreme gods in India, especially in Delhi. Each of the major Indian cities has a presiding deity — Kali for Kolkata, Ganesh for Mumbai — and for Delhi, it’s Lord Rama. Sita is also considered an ideal woman, for her faithfulness and loyalty to her husband. Personally, I admire her for her courage to undergo a trial by fire. The strength of women is generally vastly underrated, if you ask me, but especially so in India. I find Indian women to be power-houses. They’re beautiful and strong and I admire them greatly.

Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

For a modern, American retelling of the Ramayana, watch the feature-length animated cartoon Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley. Inspired by the music of American blues singer Annette Hanshaw, she overlays her own story of separation and divorce onto the story of Rama and Sita, and lavishly animates it. Unless you are an absolute purist who demands that traditional stories be told in a traditional way, you will love it.

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Photo of the Week: Ganesh Chaturthi

Mariellen — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 02:46:48 +0000

Ganesh Chaturthi in Mumbai, India

Ganesh Chaturthi takes place every year in late August or early September. It is the birthday of the popular Hindu elephant-headed god, son of Shiva and Parvati. This festival is celebrated all over India, but especially so in Mumbai where grand processions bear huge idols to the sea for immersion. Ganesh is the bestower of luck, the remover of obstacles and the god of safe travels. I always carry a small Ganesh charm with me while I travel in India.

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A long walk on a hot day in India

Mariellen — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 20:34:52 +0000

Aarti (evening ceremony) during Kumbh Mela Festival in Haridwar, India, 2010

The Kumbh Mela Festival in India

“No,” said the khaki-clad policeman. “You don’t have the right pass.” It took me a moment to grasp that I was not going to be able to join my colleagues on the media platform. The spectacle of hundreds of naga sadhus parading into the centre of Haridwar, India was the pinnacle of the Kumbh Mela, the largest spiritual gathering on earth, and I wanted to see it

That morning, I rose before dawn and walked 13 kilometres into Haridwar with a group from the ashram to take a dip in the Ganges River. It was the most auspicious moment to bathe during the festival, and millions of devotees were streaming into the city to take part.

After bathing, I separating from my ashram group to join my journalism colleagues on the platform. When I was turned away, I was stunned. The sun was climbing in the sky, I didn’t know the route back and the city was completely closed and packed with pilgrims.

Buoyed by the intense devotional energy, I somehow found the winding route back to the ashram. Arriving, I felt exhilarated and realized I would never be the same.

That morning, I discovered the truth and power of ritual. It’s not about the achievement. It’s about how a peak experience can change our idea of who we are and what we are capable of. Which is a lot to get out of a long walk on a hot day in north India.

This post has been entered into the Grantourismo and HomeAway Holiday-Rentals travel blogging competition.

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Video of dance to Krishna chant

Mariellen — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 15:04:22 +0000

Video Friday

Graceful dance, with hoop, to kirtan music

Every summer, ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness — otherwise known as the “Hare Krishnas”) holds a picnic on Toronto Island called the Festival of India – Feed Your Soul. It’s a wonderful event and I never miss it. Everything is free — even the food! — and people of all ages attend. You can join a free outdoor yoga class, have your astrology chart done, enjoy the vegetarian feast, buy Indian clothes and trinkets and best of all, sing and dance along to incredibly happy, joyful kirtan (sacred) music. The event wraps up on Sunday late afternoon with a rousing kirtan session that everyone joins in. It’s basically a celebration of god, a spiritual rave — and no drugs or alcohol are needed to send everyone in a frenzy of joy. I took this video while everyone else was in the kirtan tent chanting along to the music. More pictures from the event follow.

Woman giving at ISKCON Festival of India, Toronto Island, Summer 2010

Blue turbans at ISKCON Festival of India, Toronto Island, Summer 2010

yoga class at ISKCON Festival of India, Toronto Island, Summer 2010

temple at ISKCON Festival of India, Toronto Island, Summer 2010

and for those of you who think "spiritual people" don't have a sense of humour ...

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Video of India festival in India

Mariellen — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:10:10 +0000

Video of Kumbh Mela ceremony

This is a video of the aarti (ceremony to honour the Ganges River) that happens each day at dusk in Haridwar, India. I took this during the Kumbh Mela, the largest religious gathering on earth. I was standing on a media platform in Har-ki-Pauri, the sacred centre of Haridwar. Notice how the Indian authorities set up the media platform with a electrical wires marring the view of the aarti! But still, I think I got a lovely shot of women int he crowd when I panned down across the river to the side I was on. Of course, a modest video like this in no way captures the heat, the smells, the enormous size of the crowd and the intense devotional energy that was palpable in the air. It was an amazing experience to be there. A privilege, really.

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Video panorama of world’s largest gathering

Mariellen — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 13:35:39 +0000

I took this video from the media platform in the middle of Har-ki-pauri, Haridwar (north India) during the Maha Kumbh Mela — which is the world’s largest gathering of humanity on earth. To read about this massive Hndu spiritual festival — and my harrowing adventures finding myself alone in the midst of millions — click here.

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