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The Hindu and Sikh festival of Diwali takes place
in October or November each year.
The festival celebrates the victory of good over
evil, light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.
Amrisha, a 12-year-old Hindu, from Norfolk, writes
about Diwali and what it means to her.
Diwali celebrations
For me, Diwali is a celebration when Hindus welcome
Rama and Sita into their home, by putting candles everywhere in
the house.
The week before Diwali we sent out Diwali cards
to friends and family - this is just like sending Christmas cards.
Lord Rama |
The festival usually lasts four days. On the first
day called Dhantheras we usually clean the house and do Lakshmi
pooja in the morning (prayers).
Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth. Hindus usually
get a statue or a coin imprinted with a picture of Lakshmi on it.
They wash the statue with water, then with ghee
(butter). It is then washed with honey, natural yoghurt and saccer
(sugar). Finally, it's washed with water again.
The statue is wiped clean with a cloth and cankoo
(red powder) mixed with water. Rice is then put on her forehead.
The statue is placed where the family prays, with
a fresh flower and a diya (home made candle) is lit.
The whole family prays for wealth in the coming
year.
Sweet rice and coconut
The next day is called Karrichaudas. On this day
my mother makes sweet rice and takes out five spoonfuls into a steel
plate for her prayers.
Also, my dad cracks two coconuts and takes out
the first five pieces from the two coconuts for prayers.
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A small oil lamp called a diya light
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These five pieces, together with the five pieces
of sweet rice are then offered to God.
Later on these offerings will be given to the family
to eat.
Mum also makes savoury pakoras and the first four
are set aside for the evening.
Festive meal
In the evening all the family go to a nearby crossroads.
We then throw one pakora in each direction of the crossroads.
We then walk home silently whilst praying to God
to forgive us for any sins we have committed in the past year.
On the third day we do chopra poojan where we finish
off the accounts of the last year and asking God to hopefully increase
next year's accounts.
Then we all have a festive meal with the whole
family and wish everybody a happy diwali and new year.
Then we give each other presents and have a good
time. The next is a New Year and we phone everybody to wish them
a happy New Year.
If you'd like to write about something for the
Kids' section, send your stories to us at norfolk@bbc.co.uk
and label your e-mail KIDS.
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