What is the holiday of Diwali? How did it begin? Where is it celebrated? What are the traditions involved in the holiday of Diwali? What stories are told and how are they significant? What is Apuja? What makes Diwali fun and unique? We'll answer these questions and many more in today's episode. What is Diwali? Welcome to Wiser World, a podcast for busy people who need a refresher on all things world.
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I do. You've probably wondered about this holiday. What's unique about this episode is that through a series of very fortunate events I found myself in India during Diwali this year. Believe me, I asked a lot of questions and I took a lot of pictures and I learned about this holiday while I watched people celebrate it. It was a really unique experience. I'm so glad I got to do that. I share some extra insights on Diwali on my Patreon this month, which you can sign up for.
Patreon.com slash Wise A World Podcast. Thank you again for all those who support the podcast through Patreon. Before I get into the nitty gritty of Diwali, just a reminder, you know, not all Hindus celebrate Diwali or celebrate it in the same ways, right? And some Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists also celebrate Diwali. So as you'll see is this episode unfolds, customs vary from place to place, person to person, family to family, just like anything religious, right?
But in this episode, I hope to show a few of the most common ways to celebrate that I saw. And if you have more questions, feel free to look those up or ask a friend how they celebrate if they celebrate Diwali. Let's talk about it. Diwali is a holiday that originated in India, but it's celebrated by Hindus around the world. Again, there's others who celebrate it too. And it's celebrated in many, many different countries. In South India, it's sometimes called Diba Valley.
No matter what it's called, Diwali usually falls in October or November because it's based on the lunar calendar and it's associated with the fall harvest. You know, the more I study the world, the more I see that almost every culture has some kind of celebration around seasonal changes. And this is the one for India's harvest.
So it has deep cultural and religious roots. And in India, different parts of the country celebrate it in unique ways, like in some cities, Diwali celebrated for, you know, three to four days.
In some parts, it's exactly five days. And in some villages and towns, it can last up to two weeks or even a month. So many people get work off for Diwali and travel with their families since it's national holidays. So while I was there, there were lots of families on vacation at the same time that I was traveling around too.
At its core, Diwali is a joyful, happy celebration. It celebrates good, conquering evil. And it's a massive festival of lights with this theme of, again, light overcoming darkness, good, conquering evil. It also celebrates prosperity and wealth, both external wealth and internal wealth. And there's a few, there are a few rituals that people do to bring prosperity into their lives during Diwali.
But let's start out with a few Hindu legends that come from ancient epics that go along with the holiday of Diwali. The first is the story most commonly called the Ramayan. And this story goes that thousands of years ago, there was a king who lived with his three wives and four sons or princes. And the oldest prince was named Ram. And he had a beautiful wife named Sita.
Well, one of the king's wives didn't like Ram because she wanted her son to be the next king. And so she demanded that Ram be exiled to the forest for 14 years. So Ram, his wife Sita and his younger brother, Lakshman, left the palace to begin this exile, right?
While living in the forest, Sita, that's Ram's wife, is kidnapped by a demon king named Ravana. And Ram and his brother Lakshman set out to try to find her. And on their way, they get help from an army of monkeys and bears that wanted to help them. And one of these monkeys had extra strength and abilities, like he could fly.
And so because of his ability, he found Sita locked up in the demon king's gardens. So now that they know where Sita is, Ram and his army rushed there and a great battle ensued. And Ram ended up conquering the army of the demon king and finally killed Ravana himself in a final showdown.
So he kills the demon king. There's this final big giant moment. And Ram and Sita were reunited again. And when they're 14 years of exile were over, they went back to their original kingdom where the streets were decorated with lamps and flowers to welcome their return and celebrate how good had triumphed over evil and light had conquered darkness.
Now, I've simplified this story a little bit for purposes of just time. And the story also varies depending on where you get the story. But this is the general legend that is most associated with the holiday of Diwali. In the south of India, some people also share another story about Lord Krishna and his conquering of a different demon. But no matter what story goes along with Diwali, they have the same themes. And so that's what I want to focus on.
It's usually a theme of justice, you know, right being wronged, light conquering darkness. Those are the stories of Diwali. And because of these stories, lights are a huge part of Diwali. Sometimes it's actually called the festival of lights.
And there is a traditional oil lamp called a DIA that spelled D-I-Y-A. So DIA. And these traditional oil lamps are made of clay or terracotta. And they can fit in the palm of your hand. And the lamp has a shallow circular bowl in it with a small spout and the wick. And the bowl is filled with oil, most commonly mustard oil.
And then they light the wick and the oil burns to make a flame. And people like to buy a lot of these lamps and light rose and rose of DIAs throughout their houses and in the streets. And again, it symbolizes light over darkness. It's really beautiful.
And I create these stunning displays of DIAs. Sometimes they also use colored rice or powders to make these intricate, colorful patterns and designs all around the DIAs on the floor. And I share some pictures of stuff that I saw while I was in India on my Patreon. And you can also look them up if you want to. You can just Google something called rangoli R-A-N-G-O-L-I. And you can see some of these amazing designs that people make on the floor.
In one part of India, people even float miniature boats made of banana leaves with lamps on, you know, bodies of water. Every area has their own unique spin on things, some do lamps that go up into the sky. It's such a large country. It's also celebrated in many, many countries. So the customs just vary from place to place. But ultimately, the symbolism remains the same.
In some parts of India, people also have large parades. And they also like fireworks. Though that is becoming less and less popular because India does have a massive pollution problem. But kids can be seen, you know, with sparklers after dark. And everything is decorated. One of my favorite parts of being in India during Diwali was seeing all of the different ways that people decorated.
In the big city, the tall buildings and hotels and restaurants were often decorated with long strings of colored lights. They kind of looked like stripes of lights going up and down the buildings. And smaller places were decorated with garlands of orange, marigold flowers. They kind of looked like really small carnations.
Anyway, they string these flowers together and draped them over shrines in their cars, hanging from shops. I even saw gas stations in the middle of nowhere draped with flower garlands for Diwali. Even the cows who wander the streets freely in India are sometimes decorated with colored designs for Diwali. The lights and DL lamps play another role as well. When people set up the displays, they are also sometimes meant to welcome the Hindu goddess of wealth and prosperity, whose name is Lakshmi.
So not only is Diwali about light conquering darkness, but it's also about welcoming wealth and prosperity in the coming year. In Hinduism, Apuja, which is spelled P-U-J-A, Apuja is a type of ritual worship that's done either in the home or in temples or in a sacred place. During Apuja, a person or groups of people perform very specific rituals, prayers, and offer things to invoke the presence and blessings of deities or gods or goddesses.
So many people perform Apuja to the goddess Lakshmi during Diwali and seeking her blessings to have a prosperous year ahead. Some businesses even do Apuja over their accounting books to bless the new year ahead. So let's talk about what a typical Apuja looks like in Hinduism. And again, this can vary. I'm just talking generalities here. And I did check this with a few Hindu friends to make sure that this was generally true.
So when you are about to do Apuja in Hinduism, the first thing you do is some kind of preparation. So people often cleanse themselves physically and mentally, they often take a bath or wash their hands and feet. And they often wear clean and appropriate clothing for the Apuja. For the Lakshmi Pujja, again Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity and wealth. And she does other things too, but that's her main job.
People often will clean their house to welcome her. And people often have a special place in their house where they do poojas or again, they can go to a Hindu temple as well. After this preparation is done, then they set up an altar and they place an idol or an image of the goddess Lakshmi on the altar.
So this really could be anything, a picture of her, a coin with her image on it, a statue, a new statue. Sometimes the altars have incense or the oil lamps, the Diaz, flowers, fruits, other kinds of decorations, they really make that altar beautiful. Then to begin the Pujja, there's usually a chanting of sacred mantras and sometimes ringing bells. Sometimes people will invoke Lord Ganesha, who is the remover of obstacles, to help the Pujja to go smoothly.
So that's kind of the beginning of the Pujja. Then items like fruits, flowers, sweets, sometimes even cooked food are offered to the deity. In this case, again, the goddess Lakshmi. And this symbolizes gratitude and devotion. Then there's something called an RT. The RT is spelled A-A-R-T-I, if you want to look it up. RT is a ritual that involves waving a lamp or a candle in front of the deity in a circular motion. And it's usually accompanied with singing songs or mantras.
And it's done more or less to provide a view of that deity's divine form and to illuminate the inner self with the divine light of that God or goddess. After the RT, there are usually specific prayers or mantras. So they'll recite these things to express their devotion, to seek blessings, to communicate their wishes and concerns with the deity.
Sometimes people will also meditate or have quiet time depending on the situation. And then when the Pujja is complete, the offerings that were made at the beginning are considered blessed. And so the blessed items are distributed among those who participated or among family and friends seen as a divine gift from the deity. This is often called the distribution of prasad.
So to wrap up the Pujja usually concludes with an offering of water and sometimes depending on the situation, and if it's at a temple or not, sometimes there is a sacred fire that symbolizes the completion of the ritual. Some people do a small Pujja in their house. Like they clean their house, take a bath, wear clean clothes, bring a new statue of the deity, decorate their homes with lights and flowers and perform the RT. And this takes 15 to 20 minutes.
Some people go to the temple and they do what they call a proper Pujja. This takes a little bit longer. This involves some more rituals that I didn't cover, such as a ritual holy fire that's lit. But really no matter how a Pujja is completed, the underlying theme is to invoke the divine blessings from the God or Goddesses.
In the case for Lakshmi, it's to ask for prosperity and well-being and light. And that's so important during Diwali. So overall Lakshmi's worship during Diwali is a place for devotees to express their gratitude, to receive blessings and to hopefully have a fulfilling year ahead. Diwali is also a time to give and to share families usually exchanged gifts, which can be really anything, but it's especially common to give sweets and dry fruits to each other.
Some families even have big feasts where they invite family and friends over to eat. So it's not only a time of worship, but it's also a time to gather and a time to celebrate light and joy. So it's just a really, really beautiful holiday. I loved learning about it. And I hope this episode was helpful in understanding a little bit about Diwali. It's celebrated by roughly a billion people each year. So I think it's a really important holiday to know more about.
And I'm so grateful for those who shared this holiday with me and made it colorful and beautiful and shared their insights. I'm especially grateful to my friend Abbi for answering all of my questions. And he really helped me with this episode. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone you know and consider leaving a review on your favorite podcast app. It's really easy to do, especially on Spotify.
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I love learning about Diwali this month. And I hope you did too. And I'll be back in a month. And in the meantime, let's go make the world a little wiser. So here, Head In وهen