The festival typically lasts for four to five days and coincides with the new moon on the Hindu lunisolar calendar, called amavasya. This year, Diwali begins on Thursday 4 November on the Gregorian calendar. So to Sikhs, the festival represents freedom.”Įleanor Nesbitt, professor emeritus at the Warwick Religions and Education Research Unit at the University of Warwick, adds that Buddhists and Jains “have other historical reasons” for celebrating Diwali. “Loosely translated, Bandi Chhor means ‘release of incarcerated people’.
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“The Guru, who was imprisoned by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, was standing against the emperor’s regime’s oppression of the Indian people,” says Gurmel Singh, CEO of Sikh Community and Youth Services and secretary general of the Sikh Council UK. Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, fortune and prosperity, is also celebrated in Hindu households during the festival.ĭiwali coincides with the Sikh celebration of Bandi Chhor Divas, a religious holiday that commemorates the release of Sikh Guru Hargobind Ji from the Gwalior Fort in India in the 17th century. “To illuminate the path through which they return and in order to guide them home, diyas (clay lamps) are lit everywhere and the world is bathed in golden hues of light,” Mr Kashyap explains. “It signifies the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil and sees millions of lamps lit at homes, temples, shops and public buildings across the world,” Mr Kashyap tells The Independent.Īnother main theme of Diwali is the recollection of a story called Ramayan, which details how the Hindu god Rama returned to his kingdom with his wife, Sita, and his brother, Lakchman, after several years of exile. Rajnish Kashyap, general secretary and director of Hindu Council UK, explains that the festival, which is one of the most significant for those of the Hindu faith, can trace its origins back to ancient times “when the end of the summer harvest season was celebrated with much pomp and splendour”.
DIWALI FESTIVAL FIREWORKS HD SERIES
Here is everything you need to know about Diwali: What is Diwali?ĭiwali, also known as Deepavali or Dipavali, comes from the Sanksrit word dipavali meaning “row or series of lights”.