Diwali

What: The five day fes­ti­val of Diwali cel­e­brates the tri­umph of light over dark­ness and is cel­e­brat­ed by mil­lions of Hin­dus and Sikhs across the world. With the biggest and best cel­e­bra­tions tak­ing place across India where bil­lions of peo­ple light lamps in their homes, shops, build­ing and release lanterns into the night sky which com­bined with the light­ing of bil­lions of can­dles and release of fire­works – right­ful­ly earns Diwali’s ‘fes­ti­val of light’ nick­name. 

Along­side the light­ing of lamps and can­dles, Diwali is cel­e­brat­ed in both a rau­cous and reflect­ful man­ner, with the first days of the fes­ti­val ded­i­cat­ed to vis­it­ing fam­i­ly, clean­ing, wor­ship­ping and both pur­chas­ing and wear­ing one’s finest clothes, with night­fall on the third day see­ing chil­dren, young adults and elders pour­ing into the street to exchange presents and release fire­works, fire­crack­ers and lights – trans­form­ing the streets of India into a spec­ta­cle of lights.

When: The Dates for Diwali change each year, with the fes­ti­val occur­ring in either Octo­ber or Decem­ber based on the cycle of the Hin­du lunar cal­en­dar.

Where: Although cel­e­brat­ed all around the world, the heart of Diwali cel­e­bra­tions are in India, with the North of India in par­tic­u­lar­ly being the best place to be for the fes­ti­val, with the fire­works, lights and cel­e­bra­tions in both Mum­bai, Agra and New Del­hi all being spec­tac­u­lar – alter­na­tive­ly for a more spir­i­tu­al expe­ri­ence the town of Varanasi offers spec­tac­u­lar fire­works and cel­e­bra­tions over the heart of the Ganges riv­er.

Tick­ets: Diwali is com­plete­ly free to attend and there is no imme­di­ate cost to take part – just be sure to bring your finest clothes and plen­ty of fire­works and lights.

Dura­tion: Diwali is divid­ed into five sep­a­rate days;

1.) The first day is ded­i­cat­ed to prepar­ing for the fes­ti­val with the clean­ing of hous­es and streets and the pur­chas­ing of best clothes, with hindu’s mak­ing fre­quent trips to tem­ples in mem­o­ry of Lord Vish­nu, is said to bought good health and immor­tal­i­ty to man kind on this day and also try­ing their luck at gam­bling in the hopes of pros­per­i­ty.

2.) The Sec­ond day is ded­i­cat­ed to reflec­tion, with a focus on hell and the bat­tle between good and evil, with some com­mu­ni­ties burn­ing effi­gies of demons in prepa­ra­tion for the full lunar moon.

3.) The third day is the main day of Diwali, and the main day for the fes­ti­val of lights, with  the lunar moon accom­pa­nied by the light­ing of can­dles, the release of fire­works and the cel­e­bra­tion of life.

4. & 5.) The fourth and fifth day of Diwali are focused on reflec­tion, with hopes for the new year and a cel­e­bra­tion of sis­ters tak­ing place to close out the fes­ti­val.

For each day expect reflec­tion in the morn­ing, and in par­tic­u­lar on the third day, expect fire­works, noise and light cer­e­monies to take place from dusk to the ear­ly hours of the morn­ing.

Need to Know: India is already heav­i­ly pop­u­lat­ed and expect prices for accom­mo­da­tion and flights to increase clos­er to Diwali as peo­ple flock to the North of the coun­try to cel­e­brate Diwali – so it’s advised to book well in advance.

Also be warned that when cel­e­brat­ing Diwali in the North of India with lights and fire­works, health and safe­ty require­ments are at a min­i­mum, so be care­ful of stray fire­works and keep your dis­tance from any­one releas­ing fire­works in the street.