Saturday was Diwali. Diwali is the largest Hindu holiday and is comparable to our Christmas. For more history of Diwali, read the entry below. I was here for Diwali last year, but I had only been in country for a few days and did not celebrate it. So this was my first time to celebrate with Indians. Several days leading up to Diwali, everything became really festive. All the markets and buildings were decorated with lights. Shops had special Diwali gifts and it was just fun to be out. It really did feel like Christmas. Just instead of little Santa Claus's, there were little statue of gods everywhere.
Several days before, Alicia and I spent several nights in markets trying to figure out the appropriate gifts to give. On Diwali, people visit each other homes and give gifts. The gifts depend upon the relationships, but they are normally sweets or some type of household gift. And of course, each visit includes eating alot of food and sweets! By the end of the day, we were stuffed! We began our day with a visit to our landlords' the Guptas. The food stuffing began with sweets and nuts. I will talk more about sweets a little later, but I did really well. I was proud of myself.
Then we had lunch with Mona and her family, and then headed to Anita's house. Anita's house is always an adventure. Her kids greeted us as cheerfully as usually, especially since we were bearing gifts. Because Anita works for us, it was appropriate to buy her a saree (Indian dress) and something for her house. We didn't know what to get her, but we decided on a pressure cooker. It was apparently a hit, at least with kids. As she opened it the kids went wild. Especially the 10 year old, who grabbed the pot and started saying "Cooker! Cooker!" It was so cute. He acted more excited about the cooker then the game we gave the kids. The kids were also really excited about the saree we gave her. They were showing it to everyone. It was so much fun just to see the smiles on their faces. Anita had went way out of her way once again. She made us homemade sweets, which weren't too bad. (Okay, I will admit I hid one in my purse. :)) She also fed us chicken, which is a huge treat for her family. They normally can't afford chicken. She was really proud to serve us meat. She was also proud to tell us that she had actually killed the chicked herself. :) I've never had someone personally kill a chicken for me to eat. :)
We spent the rest of the evening with Mona's family. It is custom on Diwali that Hindus have a time of worship of lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. They pray to lakshmi for financial blessings for the coming year. Although, Mona is not very devout, her family had a puja time because it is tradition. Alicia and I watched from the back of the room as the whole family chanted and offered food to their little gods. Mona and her family are special to us, so it was important that we spend this time with them, but it is hard to watch, because they mean so much to us. Below was all the stuff and food they used during their puja.
After the puja, the gifts were exchanged. Once again, felt like Christmas. Except that Indians don't open gifts in front of other people, so you just accept them and take them home.
Then, the lamps were lit. Everyone places small candles outside of their homes to remember the story of Diwali, where the king returns to from exile and all the people light candles to welcome him (see story below).
We joined in this activity, but we just chose to celbrate the return of our King instead.
We then went to Mona's parents house for more food, and alot of fireworks. Another Diwali tradtion is fireworks. I will write more about firworks in another post. We shot fireworks along with everyone else in the city for several hours on a rooftop. It felf like the 4th of July, and Alica and I even sang a few patriotic songs.
By this time, Alicia and I were pretty exhausted, and although we had eaten non-stop all day, we still had one more meal to go. We finally had dinner at 11:30 pm. At this point in time, Alicia and I eyes were drooping, and our host asked, "Would you like to take a nap for awhile?" I started laughing, because it was midnight. lol. I told Alicia, "This is going to be long night!" We managed to get home before 1 am, but we immediately crashed, despite the fact that it sounded like a war zone outside.
The posts above this one are a few other interesting aspects of Diwali.
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