The Festival of Light

Last week, we celebrated our Diwali and traditionally, the Guajarati’s celebrate their New Year, the very next day. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the fact we are in Lockdown, I had some reservations about the celebrations this year. On the whole Diwali, in the UK, is quite a solemn affair here, especially after you have lived in Kenya, where the celebrations are far more jubilant and triumphant. I think the reason behind this is partially related to the weather. Diwali normal falls in October or November, dependent on the Lunisolar calendar. The weather in Kenya is sunny and hot, whereas in London, it is getting colder and darker, the leaves are falling from the trees and there is chill in the air that winter is around the corner. 

What is Diwali?

Diwali is one of the most popular festivals within Hindu faith. It is known as the Festival of Lights and usually lasts five days. It symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance” 

But it is also closely associated with Lakshmi, who is the Goddess of prosperity. Furthermore, it is, in some regions, a celebration of the day Lord Rama returned to his kingdom with his wife Sita and his brother Lakshmana after defeating Ravana in Lanka and serving 14 years of exile. But that is a story for another day.

Let me share with you what Diwali looked like for me as a youngster in Kenya

As a child, before understanding the concept of the lunisolar calendar, I did not really know that Diwali was around the corner until I would come home from school at lunchtime and see that my mother was still in her cleaning overalls and covered in dust. I would tease her which never went down well! The lunch time meal was a simple one dish affair rather than her usual three or four curries with the full works. I would later realise that she had been cleaning out each room individually from top to bottom, scrubbing all the walls and the floors, every nook and cranny was explored, all the cupboards would be revamped and old clothes would be given away to charity. Sometimes, there were decorators painting the rooms or somebody polishing her wooden floors or her terrazzo floors with her screaming at me to not touch the paint or skid on the soapy floors which is still very tempting. To this day, my mother is very conscientious about her cleaning, I think I have certainly missed that gene as well as her cooking skills!

I later realised that in the lead up to the Diwali, this happened in everyone’s houses during Diwali. It does happen a certain amount in my own place but I am definitely not as thorough as my mother.

Although I am one of four siblings, there is a large gap between others and myself so most of the time, I felt like I was the only child.

Once all the cleaning, renovation and decorating had finished at home and my father’s workplace, my mother would go into a mad cooking frenzy. She would make all these sweets and savoury dishes. Every time, I came home from school, there would half a dozen varieties to try. I used to come up the stairs and be salivating, eager to try her new dishes. Sometimes, my aunts would come to ours so that they can make all the gorgeous food together or vice versa. If any of these fabulous dishes were made when I was home, then I was asked to help. It was an honour to be asked and I was eager and did it with pride. It was just a simple job such as piercing her savoury pastries, to avoid them turning into full balloons in hot oil. However, if one did turn in to a full balloon, she would tell me off in a mocking way and tell me to eat as it may ruin all the others! She was always careful that I stayed away as far away from the hot oils. She was also worried that I would get the hot oil on myself and give myself a third degree burn!

Then, came the exciting bit for me as a child, Diwali would be closely approaching and all the fireworks shop would be open during the weekends or late evenings. I would beg my father to buy these but I was rather a scaredy cat and would only manage the sparklers or very small firecrackers that I could rub against my shoe and it would light up – I used run a mile to avoid it stinging my leg – it was quite a sight to watch. But when he did buy them, it meant I had the most precious gift from him and I would guard it like the Kohinoor diamond, using it sparingly and making sure it lasted till the end of Diwali. As I grew older, and once my brother moved back to Kenya, he would let me go to the shop on my own and let me choose all my favourite firecrackers. But there was a deep thought with how and when I would use all the firecrackers, I used to ration my supplies ensuring it lasted from day 1 to day 5.

What are the five days of Diwali celebrations?

The first day is known as Dhanteras, -dhanmeanswealth andterasmeaning thirteenth, marks the thirteenth day and the beginning of Diwali. As soon as darkness falls from day 1 to day 5, small candles (diyas) are lit in our temple, interiors and exteriors of our houses and workplaces. All the doorways of the house are decorated with colourful designs also known asrangolis. Prayers are offered to Lord Ganesh and Goddess Lakshmi too. The day also marks a major shopping day to purchase new utensils, home equipment, jewellery, firecrackers, and other items.

The second day is known as Kalichaudas which is the fourteenth day in the second fortnight of the lunisolar calendar. It is a day to pray for the peace and to liberate any souls from their suffering in "Naraka", or hell, as well as a reminder of spiritual auspiciousness.

The third day is Diwali itself, and I will come back to this in more detail a little further down. The fourth day is our New Year’s Day, and according to the Hindu scriptures, we are in the year 2077!

The fifth day in our Hindu communities’ marks the last day as Bhai bhij which is dedicated to the bond between sister and brother. On this day, sisters invite their brothers for a sumptuous meal often including their favourite dishes/sweets. The basis for this day, signifies the duty of a brother to protect his sister, as well as a sister's blessings for her brother. 

So what happens on Diwali day itself?

After lighting the candles, people wear their finest clothes, perform worship ceremonies of Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and wealth, light fireworks, meet families, bow down to our elders and partake in family feasts, where all the lovely food and gifts are shared. The gifts aspect was always the most exciting as a child. You get these envelopes filled with money which you are dying to rip apart to see how much money you have collected and making plans on how to spend it. These ceremonies would occur in the temple in Kenya, where you would meet all the people who were in an extremely joyous mood and laughter is filled in the air, not forgetting the burning smell of candles, incense sticks and the firecrackers. All the parents would be sharing the same moment, while us children would be showing each other our beautiful clothes or showing off our fireworks collection or busy counting the gifted envelopes.

As you can imagine, London being so big that you don’t have the same grand affair. I was lucky enough to have fabulous relatives who would invite me to their functions and make me feel part of their celebrations but I missed my parents and I missed the small town togetherness.

And this year, with the lockdown, it felt even more of a sombre event. The world has been brought to standstill with the pandemic, the economy is struggling but there is probably more hardship to come! I was not really in the mood to celebrate but two days before the five day festival began – it dawned on me – (I normally get my bright ideas when I am doing something completely unrelated!). In this case, I was about to start an exercise class on Zoom and I thought that Diwali is a festival of lights and in the world, we definitely need some true light over the darkness that precedes before us, to see us through to the other side during these strange times.

I also remembered that before the gathering on the Diwali evening, all the Guajarati men, most of whom were and still are, business owners would perform the Lakshmi Pooja at the temple together with another ceremony called “Chopda Poojan”.

Chopda means books of accounts, marking the beginning of the new accounting year, with the blessings of Goddess Lakshmi. In traditional Hindu businesses, Diwali is considered to be the last day of the financial year. As per the ritual, on Diwali day, ledger books or account books are worshiped in front of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesh, signifying the start of the new financial year according to the Hindu calendar. 

Again following my same thought pattern whilst exercising, I thought that I now, have a clinic base. I had already performed the initiation ceremony (see previous Blogs) so why not this? Maybe this year, I should bless my books too. Deep down, I think I want to follow a similar pathway in business as my father (he sold sugar, I am a foot specialist wanting to provide the best care possible – two completely different products but similar visions to achieve the best in what we do) and to do something that he did with immense pride and love from the bottom of his heart. I wanted to recall what my father did – my way of honour him.

But what is the significance of it all and why did I want to do it?

In my previous posts, I had explained that I come from a religious background, nor did I question my parents why they did or made me do what they do in terms of religion. Plus, I had never done this ceremony before. 

Why did I want to start it now? What was I trying to achieve? Did I understand it?

So I did my research?

Why is Laxmi Puja held on Diwali?

It is believed that Goddess Laxmi comes to earth on Diwali day and blesses those who light diyas on this dark night, worship her from their heart and showers her blessings on people in abundance and blesses them with prosperity as well. It is believed that since Goddess Laxmi prefers cleanliness – which is the reason behind all the rigorous cleaning schedule ahead of Diwali.

What is the importance of Laxmi Poojan during Diwali?

From previous posts, we know that Laxmi is the Goddess of wealth and prosperity and she is worshipped for promotion, success and personal virtues. Here, wealth does not only signify more money. It means seeking abundance in knowledge, skills and talents. It is believed that she helps remove the obstacles that prevent people from moving on a spiritual path or to continue with their businesses. And like always, Laxmi pooja is worshipped alongside Lord Ganesh who we know symbolises auspiciousness and wisdom. He is also believed to be the God of education and knowledge along with wealth. Ganesh pooja along with Laxmi pooja is done to get wisdom along with wealth. Because without wisdom, wealth can't stay longer with you.

Now I have never done either of these ceremonies. Nor did I know what I needed. I had some vague idea that I needed a red accounts book but these days all accounts are done on SAGE or Quickbooks or a simple excel spreadsheet on a computer. Maybe I needed to bless my computer more than the red accounts book. I also knew I needed a statue of the goddess of Lakshmi and I needed a silver coin – any £1 coin will suffice. I had seen my father perform the ceremony, but back in the day, only men ran their shops and women were housewives, but in the modern day, I am pleased to say this has changed. The men performed the ceremony and women and children observed it so I never paid any attention. I was more interested in the after party!

I quickly contacted the local shop around me that sold the deities to reserve one. I also managed to contact a supplier who offered a click and collect service. I arranged to collect this on ‘dhanteras’ (the day to purchase new things).

I still had no clue what other sacred things I required. I rang my mother but she was not sure, because in Kenya, the priest arranges all of this. But she did tell me that this year the event was taking place online from the Community elders but my brother would be arranging for the priest to come to their shop and perform the ceremony with him. I knew the next stage was to ask my brother for the list and go the local shop near me and buy all the things I needed. He also offered to link me on Zoom so I could watch this while he performed it. This is all done to an auspicious time according to the lunisolar calendar.

But I still did not know how to arrange it all but I think there was a higher power in play as a cousin of mine added me to the local community Whatsapp group in my town in Kenya. The joys and power of modern technology! This group had kindly set up a step by step photos of how to set this up. It was idiot proof for a first time novice like myself! I was over the moon with these pictures. This was fabulous. I was so impressed because it meant that when my brother started his ceremony, I could also join and carry it out the same time as him.

The ceremony went well. I was pleased with it. It is quite hard to see on Zoom what exactly the priest was doing but I managed with my husband and a help of a friend who kindly instructed me from my end.

I can’t tell you how amazing it felt to perform it. I am sure I made some errors but I will know better for next time. But what was so different was the atmosphere in my house. The whole house had this incredible vibe. The pooja had created calmness and peacefulness within the house and it was on a different energy level, maybe it is the burning of incense sticks or offering prayers or the arti that is offered at the end, but the change was noticeable. I was on a natural high the whole day and nothing was going to affect me that day and the year ahead. I was raring to start the new year on a positive note! .

And yes I would like to carry on this tradition every year!