Locals celebrate Indian holiday Diwali

A production of cultural traditional entertainment, food and an array of lavishly outfitted atendees brought the Indian culture to life as hundreds partook in the annual Diwali celebration.

Diwali is a major holiday in India, also called “The Festival Of Lights,” some in attendance said. People in India celebrate the holiday by decorating their houses and front yards with homemade lamps.

This celebration took place Saturday in the social hall of the First United Methodist Church, 344 E. Morton Ave.
Yogini Patel, a coordinator of the event, talked about the symbolism.

“The light is a symbol of knowledge,” Patel said, which is an essential idea for celebrating the holiday.

Urvashi Patel, eyes lit as she talked about Diwali, compared the celebration to Chistmas.
“Just like Christmas, we decorate,” she said. “It’s our Christmas, if you were to compare it to something. We exchange gifts and sweets.”

In India, people light fireworks on the day of Diwali, Urvashi Patel said.

The holiday, which changes every year due to the nature of the Lunar calendar used in India, fell on Oct. 28 this year, she said.

So, even though the celebration Saturday was a little late, due in part to organizers not being able to find a hall, she said. The celebration marks an important tradition for the local Indian community.

Festivities began with a serving of snacks at 5:30 and didn’t end until 10 p.m. A full program, comprised of mostly children, gave those in attendance a closer look at the Indian culture through traditional dances and a skit based on “Ramayana,” an ancient Indian play that resonates with the Diwali holiday.

Spearheading the event, Dr. Raghavendra Rao said during its 25 years of existence, the local Diwali celebration “has become an international event.”

“We want to propagate our Indian culture,” he said. “Now, more ethnic groups are participating. The whole idea is to take the greatness of our culture and we take what is good from the other cultures.”

Shobha Reddy, who co-coordinated the entertainment portion of the event, also acknowledged that this year a mix of people from other cultures were joining them in the celebration.

“We have a lot of Spanish kids in our program, we have a lot of Caucasian [kids],” Reddy said. “We recruited a lot of kids that are not of Indian origin.

“I feel it’s very important that we teach kids that we are the same. We learn so much from people that are different.”
Her daughter, 11-year old Swathi, stood next to her, dressed in her cultural regalia, and wore a smile indicative of her enjoyment of the celebration.

“I think [Diwali] is very fun,” Swathi said. “It’s a really an exciting thing to do because you get to learn a lot and have fun.”
Swathi invited two friends who were being featured in the program.

One of those friends was Sydney Trussel, who said she was learning quite a bit. One thing she said she particulary liked was the bhindi, a symbolic jewel the women wear on their foreheads.

Sydney donned the traditional sari gown, plated with jewels, and wore a bhindi, as did the majority of the children scattered throughout the social hall.

Rao mingled with different people, recommending the Samosa, a popular Indian dish.
“We want everybody to appreciate our culture and we want to get the best out of other cultures,” he said.

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