North Dakota State students and faculty may be familiar with the Indian festival of Diwali from the annual cultural evening organized by the Association of Students from India. While I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the event last year, being able to actually experience the festival in India was very different.
Diwali, the festival known for its use of light in the form of traditional clay lamps (diyas) and plenty of string lights for good measure, is tied to the events celebrated on Dussehra. It is during Dussehra that Lord Ram vanquished the demon Ravana in Sri Lanka to rescue his beloved Sita. For Hindus, Diwali is a celebration of the return of Ram and Sita to their kingdom of Ayodhya for which it is said people welcomed them with a path lit by diyas.
Diwali takes on different meanings for other religious groups such as Sikhs, however, who celebrate the return of their sixth guru from imprisonment in Gwalior. It is said that in recognition for his devotion to Sikhism, his followers lit a path for him to follow to the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
Any Diwali celebration is composed of some essential ingredients — diyas, rangoli, fireworks, great food and time spent with loved ones. I was well on my way to covering these bases when my program members and I were invited to my assistant resident director’s house a few days prior to Diwali. There I helped decorate her house and shared a wonderful meal with her family afterwards.
We lit diyas and created Rangoli leading to their door. Rangolis are designs drawn on the entrance of the house using bright powdered colors or flower petals alternatively. They can be quite large and intricate, but due to our inexperience, we opted for smaller basic designs. I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to help decorate someone’s home for the holiday.
On the day of Diwali itself, some friends and I dressed up, armed ourselves with flower garlands, diyas and sparklers and spent the evening at another friend’s apartment. Her balcony afforded us all a far-reaching view of the fireworks throughout the night. The unfortunate result of the sheer volume of fireworks set off in the city, however, was the increase in smog. While the fireworks were definitely beautiful, I am glad to hear more and more people are opting for “pollution free” Diwali celebrations. However, the smog did not cloud our enjoyment of the festival, and I believe it was still worth being half asleep in class Monday morning.
It is true I may be missing out on holidays back home this year, but the opportunity to partake in the celebrations of a country so unique and different from my own is an experience I do not intend to waste.