Every autumn, millions of Americans come together to celebrate an important holiday with their family, giving thanks for the blessings they’ve received. Sound familiar? While the first holiday to come to mind for some may be Thanksgiving, others think of the biggest, most important holiday in the entire country of India: Diwali. 

“It’s based in Hinduism. There’s a lot of rituals that take place on the day of Diwali.” Shivraj Singh, a senior whose family celebrates the holiday, explained. Diwali usually falls in some date between late October to Early November. While it is based in Hinduism, the religious holiday is also celebrated by other religions, such as Jainism and Sikhism. Depending on the region, different families may celebrate it differently. 

Sonia Ally, also a senior, explained how her family celebrates the day. “We take out all our religious statues of the gods and the goddesses. Then we get elements of nature from our own surroundings, like mango leaves or hibiscus. We pray to them, and we say what we’re thankful for.” While other families gather around a dining table to share their gratitude, other families gather around religious symbols and texts. 

Shivraj’s family celebrates in a slightly different way from Sonia’s. “I have a small temple in my house that’s dedicated to specifically celebrating religious events. On Diwali, we go through and read all the mantras. I would equate them [mantras] to, almost like bible verses. Like historic texts, religious texts. And many are in the form of songs. So, we sing these songs, and we pray to the specific gods we celebrate during Diwali. We do those in my house, and then I have a lot of cousins that live nearby, so we always visit them and we finish off celebrating all together.”

 What Diwali is most known for, is probably the decorative facet of the holiday. Known for the circles of illuminated lights arranged by celebrating families, those celebrating will fill their homes with candles, often lit in the evening. These rings of lights are the one common factor among hundreds of varying celebrations of the holiday. 

While Diwali is not quite recognized in the United States as it is in India, it is still celebrated by a large amount of people all across the country, especially in our local area. It is always important to shed light on an important holiday like this, and keep in mind that there’s more than one way of giving thanks.