HAPPY DIWALI AND NEW YEAR
Diwali is the most sacred festival of the hindu religion. It is celebrated with lot of joy and happiness. Children burn fire crackers, the woman prepare sweets, guests come at your house, there is a wonderful as well as divine atmosphere during these days. People wake up early in the morning and they wish each other “Happy Diwali” and the very next day, “Happy New Year”.
Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs and Newar Buddhists to mark different historical events and stories, but they all symbolise the victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, good over evil, hope over despair.One of the most popular festivals of Hinduism, it signifies the victory of good over evil.
Hindus across the world celebrate Diwali in honor of the return of Lord Rama, wife Sita, brother Lakshmana and lord Hanuman to Ayodhya from exile of 14 years after Rama defeated Ravana. To honor and celebrate Lord Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman returning from Sri Lanka and to illuminate their path, villagers light Diyas to celebrate the triumph of good over evil.
Celebration of Diwali
The festival preparations and rituals typically extend over a five-day period, but the main festival night of Diwali coincides with the dark night of the Hindu Lunisolar month Kartika in Bikram Sambat calendar (the month of Aippasi in Tamil Calendar), on the 15th of the month. In the Gregorian calendar, Diwali night falls between mid-October and mid-November.
All the householders have to clean their whole house completely once in a year. They do it just before Diwali. They have to plan accordingly so the whole house is clean as a temple when the holy day comes.
People decorate their house with lights, which keep on blinking as evening progresses. Young girls prepare beautiful rangoli(patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals) They want to prepare the best rangoli and also better than their neighbour’s rangoli. They are so eager to show their art to all their neighbours and all the guests who come to their house. Because this is the day all the people wait for, the whole year.
Holy New Year
The day immediately after Diwali is the New Year for the people following Hindu religion. In the west according to the calendar, New Year is celebrated on every 1st of January. But for the people in India, the day right after Diwali is the New Year. From this day, a fresh New Year begins, a new life seems to start, bringing fresh energy and enthusiasm among people. They want to burry all the fears, hatred, quarrels of the previous year and promise to live a new life from that day onwards. People have wished Happy Diwali the previous day, but now it is Happy New Year this day. The crackers continue to fire on this day, the prayers are sung again, the villages and cities are again charged up with enthusiasm even when night progresses. Women prepare a new Rangoli today.
Concern
However, some of the beauty of these days might not be same as people have become more materialistic, especially people living in big cities and teenagers. Alas! they have started to wish people “Happy Diwali” , “Happy New Year” on their social media sites. However, the flavour for Diwali is always present in the villages where people are not lost too much in science and technology.
