GoulburnHappy Diwali from Rucks and Rolls!
November 9th 2007 00:00
Today, November 9, 2007 is Diwali.
Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights, held to celebrate the triumph of Good over Evil. It marks the return of goodwill and faith after a period of darkness.
In Rugby terms this means...The Wallabies winning every Rugby match and Stephen Larkham never stops playing and I get picked as the next Wallabies Coach.
The celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional diya
(earthen lamp). Buildings, dwellings, houses, grounds are all covered in lights and fireworks play a big part!
It's not just about the burst of noise and colour...it's about the burst of light signifying creation. It is through light that the beauty of the world...of life...is seen. It's like the Big Bang theory but on a spiritual scale.
Light is symbolic of the positive forces at work. We see the light. The light dawns...the darkness doesn't fade. It explodes...ka-lour-boom!
To Hindus, darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. The lighting of lamps symbolizes the destruction, through knowledge, of all negative forces; wickedness, violence, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice, oppression and suffering, etc
Of course now, fireworks are no longer childsplay. Ahh the memories of youth..the rocket wars...the colour sky bombs...(Fellow Orbler, Mountain Fog wrote a great nostalgic post about this)
Now, it's against the law everywhere to take crackers in to your own hands.
There are several beliefs regarding the origin of the holiday but the prevalent one is that Hindus celebrate Diwali to mark the time when King Rama* of Ayodhya, achieved victory over the demon King Ravana.
*(the 7th avatar of the Supreme Being, Vishnu)
The day also commemorates the homecoming of King Rama, after a 14-year exile in the forest. The people of Ayodhya welcomed him back by lighting up rows of lamps (deepa-wali), thus its name, Deepawali, or shortened to Diwali.
To read more about Rama...please click here
Diwali is considered to be a national Indian festival, regardless of faith...celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs all over the world, as well as enjoyed as a glorious celebration of life by people, regardless of ethnicity...
No, that's not me...hello? I'm not plastic (I may have my moments...). That's Diwali Barbie!
This is me...
This festival is celebrated for five days, with the third day being celebrated as the main day of Diwali. The day is celebrated with people lighting diyas and candles all around their house and prayers are performed in the evening to seek the blessings of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity, as Diwali is also in celebration of her divine power.
(Lakshmi is Vishnu's consort. Not so much his wife as the yin to his yang...but manifesting all the yang strength without compromising softness. Does that make sense?!)
Diwali gifts are exchanged...Diwali, for Indians, is Christmas and New Year rolled into one.
...but...more than just being a literal "Festival of Lights'...Diwali truly is about "the awareness of the inner light".
Shine on you Good Things.
To find out more, please click... Diwali
*****************
Diwali Barbie image courtesy of About Toys
****************
My apologies in advance for being unable to respond to your comment/s. Thank you for taking the time to read/vote.
Please note that comments are not expected. Your good health and wealth of life is all that is required.
Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Lights, held to celebrate the triumph of Good over Evil. It marks the return of goodwill and faith after a period of darkness.
In Rugby terms this means...The Wallabies winning every Rugby match and Stephen Larkham never stops playing and I get picked as the next Wallabies Coach.
The celebrations focus on lights and lamps, particularly traditional diya
(earthen lamp). Buildings, dwellings, houses, grounds are all covered in lights and fireworks play a big part!
It's not just about the burst of noise and colour...it's about the burst of light signifying creation. It is through light that the beauty of the world...of life...is seen. It's like the Big Bang theory but on a spiritual scale.
Light is symbolic of the positive forces at work. We see the light. The light dawns...the darkness doesn't fade. It explodes...ka-lour-boom!
To Hindus, darkness represents ignorance, and light is a metaphor for knowledge. The lighting of lamps symbolizes the destruction, through knowledge, of all negative forces; wickedness, violence, anger, envy, greed, bigotry, fear, injustice, oppression and suffering, etc
Of course now, fireworks are no longer childsplay. Ahh the memories of youth..the rocket wars...the colour sky bombs...(Fellow Orbler, Mountain Fog wrote a great nostalgic post about this)
Now, it's against the law everywhere to take crackers in to your own hands.
There are several beliefs regarding the origin of the holiday but the prevalent one is that Hindus celebrate Diwali to mark the time when King Rama* of Ayodhya, achieved victory over the demon King Ravana.
*(the 7th avatar of the Supreme Being, Vishnu)
The day also commemorates the homecoming of King Rama, after a 14-year exile in the forest. The people of Ayodhya welcomed him back by lighting up rows of lamps (deepa-wali), thus its name, Deepawali, or shortened to Diwali.
To read more about Rama...please click here
Diwali is considered to be a national Indian festival, regardless of faith...celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Sikhs all over the world, as well as enjoyed as a glorious celebration of life by people, regardless of ethnicity...
No, that's not me...hello? I'm not plastic (I may have my moments...). That's Diwali Barbie!
This is me...
This festival is celebrated for five days, with the third day being celebrated as the main day of Diwali. The day is celebrated with people lighting diyas and candles all around their house and prayers are performed in the evening to seek the blessings of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth and Prosperity, as Diwali is also in celebration of her divine power.
(Lakshmi is Vishnu's consort. Not so much his wife as the yin to his yang...but manifesting all the yang strength without compromising softness. Does that make sense?!)
Diwali gifts are exchanged...Diwali, for Indians, is Christmas and New Year rolled into one.
...but...more than just being a literal "Festival of Lights'...Diwali truly is about "the awareness of the inner light".
Shine on you Good Things.
Wishing you all much light and peace and warmth.
To find out more, please click... Diwali
*****************
Diwali Barbie image courtesy of About Toys
****************
My apologies in advance for being unable to respond to your comment/s. Thank you for taking the time to read/vote.
Please note that comments are not expected. Your good health and wealth of life is all that is required.
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Comment by What's Your Story?
What's Your Story?
Big Day Plunge
Comment by Michaelie
Flick Wit
Great, Dusk.
Michaelie
Comment by Tracy
Movies and Life
Hope you're well. I didn't know much about Diwali at all so this post was great. I love the images too.
I have my toes crossed that you get picked as the next Wallabies Coach...I don't see why they wouldn't.
Have a lovely weekend,
Tracy
Comment by Andrea
V8 Supercar Pitstop
Hope your weekend shines bright and happy.
Cara.xxxx
Comment by Ash
Australian Traveller
Flashes of memories
Thanks for the info - interesting reading. I imagine you have quite an explosive party (hahaha forgive my dry humour!)
Thanks for sharing the light
hugs
Ash x
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
It's great to 'see' you...hope you all are having / had a great weekend. I had a lovely Diwali...ate far too much!
Thank you very much for your comments and your wishes.
WYS, Michaelie with the great smile, lovely warm T, dearest Cara and wonderful Ash...wishing you all much glow-bal warming!
Thank you again for coming by...and please accept my apology for not having visited your great blogs for so long...I have all your new post notifications waiting for me to get to!...and you guys have been busy...I have a lot of catching up to do...
much warmth and hugs...
Dusk
Comment by Miswanderlust
Killer Beats
Ramble On
Hipnotherapy
Wonderful post. I was not aware of this celebration. Thanks so much for the info! I hope your celebration was wonderful!
Mis
(Love those multi day celebrations!)
Comment by Lilla
Enviro Warrior
An Extra Ordinary Life
Dream Herald
Just catching up after ... you know what.... and see here, that you can ignore my PM *lol* the light of understanding has shone into what I lived (and didn't have a chance to celebrate)
A great read Dusk, thank you for the information... as I said, this festival, along with Holi in March, both make Christianity look like an old embittered woman sucking lemons...
Happy Diwali to you and yours...
May the light shine forth.
Lilla ...
Comment by Anonymous
David ...
Comment by tlcorbin-raginravensview
Coffee Quip
A Global Citizen
Paranormal Paranormal
Is Why
Alaska Chronicle
I am dazzled...
Raven
Comment by KylieW
Celebrity Obsession
Oh I like Diwali. That's my kind of festival.
And I really want a Diwali Barbie!!!
Hope you're doing well.
Kylie
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
I am so very sorry I have not been around...to respond to your comments (very rude of me to not have done so) nor to read your posts...truth be told, I have delibrately stayed away because I'm feeling very guilty!
I'm sure you all know and understand that life sometims gets in the way of blogging instead of incorporating it!
...unfortunately my time management skills are now on par with...um...Britney Spears thought process?...erratic.
I sincerely hope you are all well. I hope to be around soon to catch up on all my favourite blogs and posts. Judging by all the new post notifications I've got...I'm in for days of reading!
********************
Mis...I hope you are well gorgous woman. The celebrations wer wonderful...and I can't believe it's Christmas soon!...tim to sing your name...
Lovely Lilla...I knew you would appreciate this post (having lived in India) but oh it makes me sad that your experience was not as wonderful as it should have been. I do know that Holi is a wonderful memory for you...
David?????...is that you???? Well...no plans as yet but I have been called a doll occasionally...
Raven...what a pleasure to see you! I hope you are well. You were MIA for a while yes? Good to 'see' you back.
KW my sweet...that Britney analogy was for you! Hope you're well gorgeous. Will definitely be around to visit you soon.
**********************
Be well lovely people!
Dusk
Comment by Cibbuano
20/20 Filmsight
Science News
Hunt Famous
Orble Post of the Day
Fat Cult
Techbreak
and, most importantly, eat that good food.
me, personally, I go for the sweets. As a kid, I used to love to eat gulab jamun... now, it's too oily and sweet...
Comment by Mrs M
Mum's Word
Hope you're well Dusk. Even though life gets in the way sometimes, I hope it is treating you kindly.
Love & stuff
Mrs M (and yoda too)
Comment by DuskDevi
Rugby World Cup 2007
I am so sorry for not responding to your comment earlier!
Other than being a total slacker...would you accept that I've been busy and unable to set my brain to Multi Task mode??
Diwali was lovely, thank you...and I realised that you may know something of the celebrations...
Oh no...for me...gulaab jamun is a weakness! And badfi and jalebi and peda and oh sigh...just food really. My weakness if food...
Hope you're well Cibby. Thanks for coming by...
Dusk
*************************
Hello Mrs M...
I am so sorry for not responding to your comment either. I'm just Orbled out really...
Life is treating me very kindly...maybe a bit too kindly work wise...which is always a great thing to be busy but something had to give...and because it's Summer and I'm vain I couldn't give up gym/exercse time (he he) so I had to give up Orble time...because there is no way in hell I'm sacrificing family time. Nor hammer time.
Can't touch this.
No I haven't had anything stronger than coffee today. So far.
I hope you are as well as can be and/or better than well...
much warmth to You, Yoda and the Paduwans..
Dusk