Diwali 2013: Hindu Festival Of Lights Celebrated All Over The World

Diwali, the spectacular Hindu festival of lights celebrated all over the world, is under way.

The five-day event began on Sunday with traditional holiday staples like candles and oil lamps called "diyas" lit to celebrate the return of Hindu god Rama to his kingdom after years of exile. Diwali, a contraction of the word "Deepavali" -- meaning row of lights in Sanskrit -- is often celebrated with food, dancing, parties and, of course, colorful lights hanging everywhere.

Diwali is not only celebrated in India but in many non-Indian nations like Trinidad and Tobago, which have large Hindu populations. Each nation celebrates the holiday differently, though the elements remain the same.

In New Delhi, the capital of India, residents decorated their homes with "rangolis," flowers, lights and earthen "diyas" for the occasion, according to India. In Amritsar, thousands flocked to the Golden Temple to pay obeisance. In Tamil Nadu, newlyweds celebrated their first Diwali tougher by saying "Thalai Deppavali" to their new spouse.

Deborah Maldonado, who is from Trinidad and Tobago, told  "the Hindu community celebrates by cleaning their houses and preparing foods such as roti, channa and aloo, white rice, and various vegetable curries. They also prepare sweets like parsad, kurma and barfi. At around 6 p.m., they light deyas around their houses. Hindus invite friends and family over to help with the diya lighting and to just enjoy each other's company ... At night there is usually tons of fireworks as well."

Diwali Shopping

Diwali is not only a festival of joy and celebration, but also of intense shopping crowd. This five-day festival starts with Dhanteras and ends with Bhaidooj, setting in pace loads of shopping activities by men and women alike. From clothes to jewellery, from gifts to cars, from homes to expensive items, Indian people are known to do the maximum Diwali shopping to make the festival truly special for themselves.
 

During this festival, Indian offices follow the tradition of offering extra money or ‘bonus’ to their employees, thus it prompts people to splurge the money on shopping. More so, people remain in festive and joyous mood as soon as celebrations of Diwali arrive and hence, they end up buying more than what they would do in normal days.

Exchanging gifts with family, acquaintances and friends is a custom which also increases the level of shopping during the festival. If Diwali gifts are given, then they are received as well, thus adding to the level of shopping across India. From silver coins to gold coins, from   consumer durables to dry-fruit hampers, from clothes to fashion apparel, the sale of everything goes many notches up during the festival.

The frenzy of Diwali shopping kick-starts with Dhanteras itself when buying certain products is considered auspicious. On this day, people buy kitchen utensils, metal products, jewellery, vehicles, cars, expensive gifts, clothes, sweets etc. More so, many deliberately delay their shopping till this festival, as buying is considered lucky and auspicious during these days. Markets across India would remain crammed with people and activities, denoting the value of Diwali to one and all.

Offices, business organizations and employees everywhere offer gifts to their employees on this festival to enhance the goodwill. From crackers to household articles to candles to dry fruit boxes to sweets to chocolates to clothes to mobile, people love to buy many things to make Diwali shopping a joyous and enriching experience for them.

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