In Sanskrit, ‘Diva’ means light or lamp and ‘Ali’ means a line or row

‘DIVALI’ means a row of lights

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Light means many things to us.

It means Knowledge, Truth, Energy, Warmth

Life

The Indian word for God is ‘Dev’ meaning

light

During Divali, Indians wish one another with an oil lamp. This flame is kept burning, for good luck and not blown out

Divali is a time of THANKSGIVING to Goddess ‘Lakshmi’ who brings good fortune or plenty of wealth...

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Divali is celebrated for 4 days and each day is special.

One day is for brothers and sisters to share love and good

wishes

The red powder on the forehead is for good luck

The best part of Divali is doing fun things together with friends and family....like RANGOLI or KOLAM in bright colors

At night we add divas to the design

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Indians decorate their homes with ‘kandils’ (paper lanterns) and electric lights

Children love to light Divas

They make patterns for good

luck like the Swastik and Om

and paint them

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The buildings and streets in India are all

lit up and busy for Divali

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Shopping for fireworks like crackers, sparklers and rockets is most exciting during Divali

FIREWORKS SHOP

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Oh, the delicious sweets and goodies that Mom makes for

Divali!

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I love to dress up in sarees and Indian

dresses with bangles and jewellery

by sharing love by exchanging gifts

All over the world, Indians on all continents... Australia, Africa, Asia, North America and South America, celebrate Divali.....

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by sending wishes

India is thousands of years old....and there are people of many different cultures...so there are many stories about Divali from different parts of India

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Here is one...In ancient times Indians depended on farming for their living

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When the crop was ready for harvest the farmers would worry about the birds eating up the grain before dawn

If the birds ate the crops there would be nothing to sell and they would have no money to live

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They placed rows of oil lamps in the field in the night and they danced and sang for they knew the lamps would bring good fortune (Lakshmi) into their homes

They thought of a brilliant way to keep the birds away....

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Ever since, Indians celebrate this time of the year with happy festivities and thanksgiving to Lakshmi

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Illustrations from www.bhagwanvalmiki.com/ rama.htm

Once upon a time, about 7000 years ago, there lived a Prince called Ram in the kingdom of Ayodhya.

He married a beautiful princess called Sita.

Ram was an excellent archer and a good human being.

His step mother Kaikeyi, loved him but her wicked servant warned her that Ram would become king

Ramayana, the story of Rama, explains why Divali is celebrated in India, Thailand, Indonesia and other parts of the world

Illustrations from www.bhagwanvalmiki.com/ rama.htm

Kaikeyi wanted her own son to be king .

So she ordered her husband, King Dashrath to banish Ram to the forest for 14 years. Dashrath was very sad as he loved Ram but was forced to send Ram away.

Ram went willingly to live in the forest. He gave up all his fine clothes.

He was joined by his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman

Illustrations from www.bhagwanvalmiki.com/ rama.htm

While in the forest, Sita was kidnapped by Ravan, the King of Sri Lanka when Ram had gone hunting

Sita told Ravan that Ram would surely rescue her

Ram became very worried and searched everywhere for Sita

Ram met the king of the tribals in the forest who promised to help Ram bring Sita back from Sri Lanka with his army of tribal forest dwellers

The army of tribals made a bridge of rocks and crossed the sea to Lanka.

There they fought Ravan’s army, killed Ravan and rescued Sita

Illustrations from www.bhagwanvalmiki.com/ rama.htm

Illustrations from www.bhagwanvalmiki.com/ rama.htm

Ram, Sita, Lakshman and their loyal tribal friend, Hanuman, all returned happily to Ayodhya

Ram was then crowned King of Ayodhya

The people of Ayodhya were so happy to have their favorite prince Ram back and now as their king, that they rejoiced!

They lit divas and sang and danced with flowers, sweets and colors. This was the story of Divali!

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