Deepavali a Festival of Lights

Deepavali is a festival of Lights. This is celebrated on New Moon day hence it is also called as Deepavali Amavasya. This is the victory of the good over evil by spreading light over the darkness. For some the holy Karthik Month starts & for some it already started. For business community it's the beginning of new financial year, Lakshmi Puja. For children a festival of burning crackers, fun and excitement wearing new dresses. For householders a festival of cleaning and a festival of Lights. Family reunion, spreading of love, brotherhood, and a great community festival which binds all religions together.

Deepavali
When you light a lamp it removes darkness, brings light or visibility, similarily deepavali brings joy, enlightens our life from darkness to light. Light means -Knowledge, wisdom which is showered in our life and changes our life from dark colour to bright colours. It destroys darkness our ignorance, our ill feelings, our negative attitude etc and brings light i.e knowledge, positive attitude, brotherlyhood feeling and make our life very colorful.

Community Festival
Deepavali is a great community festival celebrated by all religion, rich or poor with full devotion, fun and frolic. It is such a festival which is being waited for its arrival by all. Sweets are distributed and people hugged by each other with love. Dry fruits and sweets are given to friends and neighbours. Sweets include chamcham, pedda's, sandesh, Laddus etc (some dry sweet names) with it dry fruits like dry grapes, apricot, and akhroot, cashew. Market is fully decorated with lights and crackers. Sweets and dry fruits shops are in great demand & do business in full swing. Candles in different colour, shapes and sizes are being sold, earthen deeya's, lichu lights are displayed in most of the shops.

Communal Harmony
Irrespective of which religion you follow, people enjoy deepavali with full gaiety and go to each other house and wish happy diwali to each other by visiting & welcoming each other with special sweets & gifts. These really help to spread communal harmony, brotherhood and love for each other. This also help unity in our community and increases love, trust and mutual respect for each other.

Winter
Arrival of Deepavali makes the beginning of winter and rainy season come to an end. With winter season you find all kind of flowers blooming, whole earth seems to be covered by green and in colourful flowers. Vegetable market is full of different vegetables including cauliflower, cabbages, radish, peas, beans, red tomatoes, capsicums, and whole lot winter vegetables are sold. As winter is considered as the most suitable for all functions & it is the season for full entertainment.

Rejoining of family
In Deepavali all the family members meet together and rejoice and enjoy burning crackers, eating sweets remembering their ancestor. Members come from far of places reducing the differences and meeting with fun, enthuasiasm and making new friendships. The whole atmosphere rejoices and spreads love and harmony.

New Financial year for Marwari's
Deepavali also marks beginning of new financial year for business community (Marwadies). They close their old accounts in the market and on this day of deepavali they invite all their business friends, their creditors and have a get together and start their new accounts. They exchange Silver Coins embossed with Laxmi (Goddess of wealth) one side and other side of the coin with Lord Ganesh (God for wisdom, knowledge). They distribute dry and traditional sweets and in exchange of love embrace each other.

Bengali Way
In west Bengal which is eastern part of India, people celebrate and perform Puja of Goddess Kali (Goddess of Violence) with full devotion and in gaiety. They remain fast for the whole day and in evening after taking bath perform Kali Puja. In some places of west Bengal to make their deity happy they also peform Bali (Sacrifice/Killing animals like black goat and offering the blood) to their Goddess Kali to make her cool down from violence. And after puja they break their fast and eat puries, luchies with aloodam (Curry made from Potato) and sweets.

Offering to Ancestors by Oriyas
In Orissa this marks the day of offering their respect to their beloved Ancestors. They Burn Kawariya Sticks in bundles tie with cloth pieces at the end and lighting them to fire and rise towards sky in showing their respect to their ancestors. After that they play with crackers.

TamilNadu
In Tamilnadu Deepavali celebration start commemorating early in the morning. All the family members after taking bath wear new cloths and perform Laxmi Puja and burn crackers to mark the death of Narakasura(the demon King of Underworld). They make traditional sweets and enjoy whole day by going out and enjoying with friends and relatives.

Bihar(Chhat Puja)
In north Indian state of Bihar chat puja is performed , which falls on the fourth day after Deepavali . Where people of Bihar give offering to their ancestors, by taking holi bath(dip) in River and offering water by raising both hands cupped together to Suraj Devata(God Sun). Then rest of the day remain fast and in the evening brake their fast with sweets. This also marks their beginning of their harvest season. They sow grains in their fields .

Deepavali Evening
As the evening approaches all the children's excitement increase many folds . They lit candles , diya(earthen lamps filled with oil and wig) some also put lichu/LED lamps & bulbs and decorate their balcony or front of their houses. The whole atmosphere electrifies. You find thousands and thousands lamps, candles burning as if the stars have come down and started twinkling on the earth. And the whole thing becomes even more excited when the celebrations of burning of crackers starts. You hear different sounds, in different pitches. Some gives low pitches sound, some gives hair raising sound when big sized crackers are burned. Small children and elderly family members enjoy with phool jhadi, Bhomi chakers, pencils, ropes etc(some of the names of crackers). When rockets starts flying the whole sky, is turned to colourful blue, red, yellow sparkles .This how deepavali crackers enchants whole evening.

So the festival of Lights is dearly awaited by all more so by children. It binds the community and spreads love and brotherhood among all religion. It is enjoyed and different sweets are relished by all. Diwali was celebrated as Shree Ram returns to Ayodhya from his win over Ravan & as a mark of respect people celebrate with full crackers. Some believe that with the burning of crackers the evil, i.e the badness, the demon within us is burnt & we turn out to be a puritan.