Happy Diwali!
Diwali - or Deepavali, meaning "row of lamps" - is best known as the Festival of Lights, a five day festival during which lots of oil filled clay lamps called Diyas are lit to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. Diwali is observed by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists and an official holiday in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore and Fiji. The significance of this holiday varies throughout the religions, however the overall message is a very good one, specifically:
"...the most significant spiritual meaning is "the awareness of the inner light". Central to Hindu philosophy is the assertion that there is something beyond the physical body and mind which is pure, infinite, and eternal, called the Atman. The celebration of Diwali as the "victory of good over evil", refers to the light of higher knowledge dispelling all ignorance, the ignorance that masks one's true nature, not as the body, but as the unchanging, infinite, immanent and transcendent reality. With this awakening comes compassion and the awareness of the oneness of all things (higher knowledge). This brings anand (joy or peace). Just as we celebrate the birth of our physical being, Diwali is the celebration of this Inner Light." ~(Wikipedia)
Wouldn't you agree?
Read more about Diwali here or in my post from last year.
How to make your own Diya clay oil lamp for Diwali
Are any of my readers celebrating Diwali? If so I'd love to hear about it, what are your traditions for this special holiday? I hope to hear from you, in the meantime Happy Diwali to all of my readers around the world, have a wonderful weekend!
All of the images in this post are examples of diya lamps, aren't they beautiful? I'm especially in love with the very first image - that tile, that peacock plume, those salmon walls...oh my! Delicious piece of eye candy!!How to make your own Diya clay oil lamp for Diwali
(All images in this post were sourced via Google images)
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