Diwali

One of the most important festivals in
the Hindu religious year, which falls on
the new moon in the lunar month of
Kartik (October–November). This festival is dedicated to Vishnu’s wife
Lakshmi, a goddess who represents
wealth, prosperity, and good fortune.
According to popular belief, on this
night of the new moon Lakshmi roams
the earth, looking for households in
which she will be welcomed, and which
she will render prosperous by her presence. People spend the days before
Diwali cleaning, repairing, and whitewashing their homes to make them suitable for welcoming the goddess. On the
evening of Diwali people open all their
doors and windows to facilitate her
entry and place lights on their windowsills and balcony ledges, as an invitation to the goddess. In earlier times
these lights would be clay lamps or candles, but today strings of electric lights
are also widely used. It is from these
lights that Diwali gets its name, as a
shortened form of Dipavali (dipa “light”
+ avali “series”). The charter myth for
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Divorce
displaying these lights describes how a
poor old woman somehow gained a
royal boon that all houses but hers
would remain unlit on the night of
Diwali. When Lakshmi wandered the
land she went to the only house that was
lit to welcome her. Because of Lakshmi’s
presence, the old woman’s troubles
quickly ceased.
Lakshmi’s strong associations with
money and good fortune account for
several other practices often found on
Diwali. For many traditional merchant
families, Diwali is observed as the
beginning of the fiscal year. All outstanding debts and obligations must be
cleared up beforehand, for on Diwali
new account books are begun. In some
cases the account ledgers are themselves ceremonially worshiped on this
day and are seen as material manifestations of Lakshmi. Another common
practice is gambling, although in most
cases it is done within the family, and for
small stakes. During the rest of the year
gambling is condemned as a potential
drain on one’s wealth, but doing so on
Diwali reaffirms the connection
between money and Lakshmi’s favor,
here in the guise of Lady Luck. Diwali is
also an occasion for eating sweets—the
more the better—and celebrating the
advent of the new year by shooting off
fireworks. India’s loose regulation of fireworks gives celebrants access to rockets
and crackers of truly impressive size,
and in the larger cities people celebrate
the holiday with such zeal that it sounds
like an artillery barrage.