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Deep\u0101vali – the \u2018Festival of Lights\u2019 – is a time of togetherness, celebrating the triumph of good over evil. Preparations for the five days of festivities begin days, sometimes even weeks, in advance with the cooking of sweets and savouries being made, purchase of gifts, adorning of decorations and a deep-clean of the house!<\/span><\/p>\n Having grown up in Leicester (UK), I have enjoyed spectacular Deep\u0101vali celebrations with approximately 25,000 attendees (one of the largest outside of Bh\u0101rat). There is something in the air during this time in my hometown; maybe it is the lit-up road and rangolis, the gathering of family and friends, or the prayers filled with hope and joy.<\/span><\/p>\n The festivities begin on the day of Dhanteras where devotees worship Lakshmi for a prosperous life. We thank Lakshmi for her blessings over the years and pray that she guides us all towards our future goals and ambitions. On K\u0101li Chaudas, day two of five, we conduct a p\u016bja to K\u0101li M\u0101 for the protection of our family and the world from negative energies.<\/span><\/p>\n The day of Deep\u0101vali begins with an indulgence in the traditional homemade delicacies such as ghugra, chakri and mathia to merely name a few! My mum and I then put on our creative hats and attempt to decorate the front of our home with some rangoli. In the evening, the main road in Leicester (The Golden Mile) is filled with thousands who gather to see the \u2018row of lights\u2019, firework display, performances by local artists, roadshows and of course, eat delicious food!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In Gujarat and other northern Indian states, the day after Deep\u0101vali marks a new year in the Hindu calendar, presenting the perfect opportunity to start fresh and dress up in new Indian clothes. We start the year by praying and seeking blessings from the elderly in the family. Several mandirs in Leicester offer an Annakut (mountain of food). The reason behind this comes from the mythological story of Krishna lifting the Govardhan mountain on his little finger for seven days to protect the people of Vrind\u0101van from thunderstorms.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Bhai Beej, also known as Bhai Dooj, closes the five days of togetherness by celebrating the brother-sister bond. Sisters pray for the long life and well-being of their brothers and invite them for a meal. I use this day to catch up with all of my brothers near and far \u2013 big thanks to technology!<\/span><\/p>\n Of course, Covid-19 means that this year\u2019s celebrations will not be taking place as normal. However, Deep\u0101vali will remain full of feasts, worship and family (virtually).\u00a0 This year, I look forward to taking time for self-reflection, and to understand the deeper meanings behind the stories of Deep\u0101vali.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Let us embody Krishna this Deep\u0101vali by deflecting our negative thoughts (heavy rain) to concentrate our energy (little finger) on our Dharma (mountain). We should strive to adopt similar strategies when dealing with various aspects of life, especially our mental health during these unprecedented times.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On behalf of National Hindu Students\u2019 Forum (UK), I wish you all a Shubh Deep\u0101vali! Let us continue to light up the hearts and minds of ourselves and others, with positivity, joy and love.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Khushboo Karia<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n NHSF (UK) Central Zone Campus Team<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Deep\u0101vali – the \u2018Festival of Lights\u2019 – is a time of togetherness, celebrating the triumph of good over evil. Preparations for the five days of festivities begin days, sometimes even weeks, in advance with the cooking of sweets and savouries being made, purchase of gifts, adorning of decorations and a deep-clean of the house! Having […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":9960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"2880","footnotes":""},"categories":[738,737,735,736,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-international-news","category-local-news","category-national-news","category-utsavs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}