Diwaliਦੀਵਾਲੀ

Diwali is the most widely loved of Hindu festivals, the festival of lights that turns homes, temples and whole streets golden for five nights each autumn. Its name comes from the Sanskrit dipavali, a row of lights, and a row of small earthen lamps is still its heart: lit on the darkest night of the season, the new moon, to welcome prosperity and to proclaim that light overcomes darkness and good overcomes evil.

What is Diwali?

Diwali is a five-day festival that runs from the thirteenth day of the dark half of the month of Ashvina to the second day of the bright half of Kartika, which places it in October or November in most years. Hindus are its main celebrants, but Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists keep the same days for reasons of their own, so Diwali belongs to Punjab and to India as a whole, not to one community alone. Its third day, the new moon day, is the peak: Lakshmi Puja, when families worship the goddess of wealth and the remover of obstacles, Ganesh.

The stories behind Diwali

In northern India, Diwali celebrates the night Ram returned to his city of Ayodhya with Sita and Lakshmana after fourteen years of exile and his victory over Ravana, the demon king of Lanka. The people of Ayodhya, the story says, lit rows of lamps to light his way home through the dark, and households have repeated the gesture ever since. The tale is told in the Ramayana, and the festival follows twenty days after Dussehra, which marks the victory itself. Other regions keep other stories: in the south, the second day remembers Krishna destroying the demon Narakasura; in Bengal, the lamps honour Kali; and many families treat the main night as the birthday of Lakshmi, or the day of her marriage to Vishnu.

The five days of Diwali

Each day of Diwali has its own name and work. The first, Dhanteras, is for cleaning the house and buying something new, traditionally gold, with worship of Lakshmi and Kubera, the treasurer of the gods. The second, Naraka Chaturdashi or Choti Diwali, remembers Krishna's defeat of Narakasura and carries prayers for ancestors. The third is Lakshmi Puja, the main day: lamps, candles and fireworks, visits to temples, and doors and windows left open so the goddess can find her way in. The fourth, Govardhan Puja or Annakut, remembers Krishna lifting Mount Govardhan to shelter the cowherds from Indra's storm; it is also the new year of the Vikrama calendar, when merchants close their old account books and open new ones. The fifth day, Bhai Dooj, belongs to brothers and sisters, and resembles Raksha Bandhan: sisters pray for their brothers, who promise them protection.

How is Diwali celebrated?

Preparation begins weeks ahead: houses are cleaned, repaired and whitewashed, courtyards are patterned with rangoli of coloured rice, sand or petals, and bazaars fill with lamps, sweets and new clothes. On the night itself, diyas are set in rows on parapets and windowsills and floated on rivers and ponds. Families exchange gifts and sweets, feed the poor, wear new clothes and visit one another. Fireworks are traditional, though towns now restrict them to limit noise and smoke, and Punjab's governments appeal each year for a green, pollution-free Diwali. In many homes, friendly card games are played for luck, in memory, it is said, of the dice games of the gods.

Diwali in Punjab

Punjab celebrates Diwali with particular splendour at Amritsar, where the Golden Temple is illuminated and its sarovar ringed with lamps for the deepmala, drawing tens of thousands of devotees. The Sikh festival of Bandi Chhor Divas falls on the same day, marking Guru Hargobind Ji's release from Gwalior fort and his return to Amritsar, so the city shines for two festivals at once. Hindu families across Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala and every Punjabi town keep Lakshmi Puja at home and in temples, and the bazaars stay open late for weeks before. Jain families in Punjab mark the night as the anniversary of Mahavira's moksha, his final liberation.

When is Diwali?

Diwali falls on the new moon day of the Hindu month of Kartika, with its five days straddling the end of Ashvina and the start of Kartika. Because the Hindu calendar is lunisolar, the Gregorian date moves: it comes in late October or in November, and the Punjab government declares a public holiday for the main day.