Diwali 2013 in Jaipur

Article by: Cookie Kinkead|@KinkeadCookie

Wed November 27, 2013 | 00:00 AM


The people of Jaipur, lit up from within like Christmas trees, were getting ready for Diwali. It was clear that this is everyone’s favorite time of year. The energy was palpable. The streets were crowded with people buying new outfits, cars, motorcycles, jewelry, sweets and fireworks as well as sidewalk and street-front merchants selling everything you need for puja (religious rituals): terra cotta pots and altars being hand painted in red and gold and yellow, rice and sugar cane for prayers, coloured rice to make entryway mandalas or the vinyl pre made sticker version for those with less time, henna artists painting intricate designs on hands and feet. The people, animals, storefronts, streets and trucks were all decorated and fabulously festive.

 

The flower markets were on overdrive, bursting with colour and fragrance. Fragrant roses, jasmine and technicolor marigolds spilled like freshly spewed lava over the streets.

 

We were fortunate to be invited into an Indian home for the celebration. Our host was as excited as a child on Christmas Eve, but his excitement wasn't about the receiving of presents, it was about the giving of gifts and the sharing of wealth and prosperity...and oh yes, the fireworks!

 

To say we were welcomed into the home and the neighborhood was an understatement. Drinks, sweets, smiles and salutations were overflowing. Little oil candles in ceramic bowls lined the entrance ways to home and vigil was kept to see that no lights went out, symbolizing our inner light that protects us from spiritual darkness.

 

Seated on the floor we had a Lakshmi puja – the offering of prayers, sweets, silver coins and rice were made and the oil lamps lit to make sure she knows she is welcome in their home and to invite her in to bless them with prosperity and good fortune. All doors and safes were left open. The ancient symbol of the swastika, a 3000-year old symbol of good luck, good fortune and well being (despite more modern usages, this symbol is traditionally one of peace), prominantly displayed on most doorways, was an opportunity for those of us acquainted mainly with it’s most recent use in our history, to keep the doors of our minds open.

 

Galub Jamun, laddoos, barifs and halwa are the staple sweets of Diwali, and even they are dressed to “sparkle” for the occasion with their top coats of Varq, an edible metallic leaf.

 

Rather than the city-sponsored grand fireworks display viewed at a distance from a rooftop, we got to experience the action at ground level. On tiny neighborhood streets, typically docile and often immovable sacred cows were seen charging wildly down the banging, smoke filled lanes, away from the explosions. It really did sound and feel like a war zone at times...a reminder to be conscious of another message of Diwali, to make peace over conflict.

 

We were offered more sweets by the neighbors who said that we could take any worries back with us to our own country as they had no place here in India, especially during Diwali!

 

What an amazing opportunity it was to participate in a celebration rather than just view it. While we were new to the traditions and symbolism of the holiday, we felt it through human expression. The internal flame burned deep within us. With our hearts, minds and souls alight, we welcome the New Year!

 

All photos © Cookie Kinkead 2013

Story by Tracy Barry