Diwali, the “festival of lights” is perhaps India’s most well known tradition, and one of the most important Hindu festivals. But Diwali, a five-day celebration of the triumph of good over evil, of light over darkness, is not just an Indian, or even a Hindu, holiday. Falling between mid-October and mid-November, Diwali is an official holiday in eleven countries and observed in myriad ways by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and some Buddhists.
Each of the five days of Diwali has its own story and its own rituals. In the Hindu tradition Diwali commemorates the return from exile of Lord Rama and the vanquishing of the demon-king Ravana; the Sikhs celebrate the release of Guru Hargobind Ji and 52 imprisoned Hindu kings; and for the Jains, Diwali signifies the attainment of nirvana by Lord Mahavira. All over the world, people light their homes with earthen oil lamps, open their windows for the goddess of wealth, give gifts of sweets, set off fireworks, shed their old clothes for new, and share in a celebration inner enlightenment, the renewal of life and the abundance of the fall harvest.
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