Lights, gifts, family, and feasts – if you purely go by the looks of how it is celebrated, Diwali may seem similar to Christmas, but in spirit, it shares a lot with Halloween as well. That may come completely as a shocker, but it isn’t just a coincidence that Diwali dates usually fall much closer to Halloween than Christmas.
Families celebrating Diwali during Halloween season face a yearly battle with their kids (I am guessing with their own selves too) – how do we accommodate skeletons and ghosts while putting up auspicious Diwali décor?!
Thanks to the difference in the lunisolar calendar dates, we can hope and wish that Diwali falls a couple days after Halloween (and we have been lucky this year!) – so that our families can indulge in all the Halloween haunted festivities and later dress our homes and ourselves in Diwali-appropriate ways.
But at times when they fall on the same day like a few years ago – we had Lakshmi Pooja happening inside our home, while we decorated with ghosts (as friendly as possible!) outside the home!
I went digging around to find out if there really was an underlying theme that unified the apparently polar opposite rituals. I didn’t have to try too hard!
Diwali, like many other festivals in India has slightly different variations across the regions. While North India celebrates the return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya, South India celebrates Lord Krishna defeating the demon Narakasura. But again, the unifying message is the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and wisdom over ignorance.
The most interesting and relevant part though is that East India observes Bhoot Chaturdashi on the eve of Kali Puja and Diwali. Very Similar to Dia de los Muertos, people in Bengal light 14 earthen lamps around the house to ward off evil spirits and invite 14 generations of forefathers (Choddo purush), back into their homes.
It is believed that during this time of the year, the line between the worlds of the living and the dead are blurred and the spirits and ghosts can roam around freely on Earth.
Sounds familiar to Halloween?
The original holiday of Halloween goes back to a Celtic holiday called “Samhein” which was the beginning of their new year. They believed that the dead returned to earth on the night before New Year’s. They lit bonfires to honor deities, and wore costumes for the ceremony. This was called All Hallow’s Eve which eventually became known as what it is today – Halloween.
One of the reasons behind illuminating every dark corner of the home and street during Diwali/Deepavali (which literally translates to ‘Row of lights’) is also the same – to shoo away any evil spirits, to celebrate victory of good over bad, in addition to adding festivities to our surroundings!
So there it is – the background and understanding we all need for a guilt-free celebration of the two seemingly opposite festivals, Diwali and Halloween – even if they were to fall on the same day!
While Halloween combats the rising strength of the dark forces with bustling fun, light-hearted activity, and Jack o lanterns and bonfires, Diwali handles it by lighting rows and rows of lamps, prayers and get togethers!
Both are designed to help us confront our fears, dispel any inner darkness within ourselves and move towards happiness, prosperity, and true knowledge!
If there’s anything that we have to worry about – it’s really the sugar! Just when everyone else seem to be getting a break from all the Halloween candy-eating, us Indian-Americans are already on our next round of Mithai eating! Not to mention, we have Thanksgiving and Christmas coming along!
So, as you bring down the Halloween décor, put up the Diwali lights, and unbox the Christmas tree – cherish the many moods and modes of celebration that share a common goal across religions and geographical differences – Spreading light and love in every dark corner within and outside of us!
0 Comments