Happy Diwali! Houses around Patna are filled with “Christmas lights” (that’s how I think of them… I doubt anyone here does…) :) and the air is filled with fire cracker blasts (in addition to the car honking). With my intensive investigation of the holiday (which has entailed a Wikipedia search) I’ve discovered that this holiday is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists to commemorate many different events. Diwali is short for “Deepavali” which means “row of lamps.” Small lamps arefilled with oil and burn all night in the home which along house cleaning is done to welcome the goddess Lakshmi. Fire crackers are set off to scary away evil spirits. There are also many battles and other events which are celebrated either on Diwali or days near of which I don’t want to explain too much… because I’ll have no idea what I’m talking about.. :) Basically what I learned was that the celebrations are mostly in the home with family and friends with sweets and fire crackers and fun.
The CARE office also had a Diwali party and we each got to light lamps that were set around a ‘Rangoli,’ a decorative design made in the courtyard in front of the office. Then we set off fire crackers and ate desserts. Yay! :)
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