Lights all around, colors everywhere: this is Diwali. At MFS, part of the student body celebrates Diwali, otherwise known as the Festival of Lights.
Diwali marks New Year’s Eve on the Lunar Calendar. Many people celebrate Diwali differently, but the holiday itself is celebrated by people filling their house with lights and vibrant colors.The main religions who celebrate Diwali are Jainism, Sikhism, and Hinduism. But many people celebrate this holiday in India with no religious background and just celebrate the Indian Lunar New Year. On this day many people will do rangoli, which is making designs out of colored sand, along with eating Halwa, a traditional Indian sweet. Since Diwali is based on the Lunar Calendar, the holiday changes every year. In 2021, Diwali is on Thursday, November 4.
Nupur Shah ’22 planned to celebrate by “getting together with close friends and family to stay up late at night and light fireworks to begin the New Year.”
Clay pot with diyas and flower petals. Photo by Elina Shah ’24.
Nupur Shah is not the only one who planned to celebrate with family. Avani Verma ’24 said that her favorite part of Diwali is “going to my Dadi’s house, eating a family dinner, and lighting diyas.”
Diyas are a very common part of Diwali; many people fill their houses with these little candles. Many hours are spent painting the outside of them with different colored paints, such as red and gold.
Naiya Patel ’23 shared that her favorite Diwali tradition is “decorating diyas with glittery paints, then displaying them around the house for people to see.”
In addition to all of the decorations for Diwali, there is the food. Many students at MFS eat various foods on Diwali including sweets like halwa, barfi, and rasmalai. Since people cannot consume alcohol or meat on Diwali, many observers tend to eat vegetarian-based food.
Aarav Shah ’25 said, “I enjoy eating my favorite foods during Diwali: my mom’s bhindi, homemade roti, along with chole, rajma, and rice” (full disclosure: Aarav Shah is the journalist’s brother).
Along with eating massive amounts of food on Diwali night, another one of Aarav Shah’s favorite things to do is enlightening people about Diwali. He does this by giving platters of sweets to friends to share a bit of the culture with people who don’t necessarily celebrate.
