Friday, October 28, 2011

Happy Diwali!!!

So I've made it through my first Diwali celebration. Jaipur is completely decorated in lights in a sort of Christmas meets Las Vegas sort of way and we've got too many half-finished boxes of Indian sweets in the fridge. Diwali is on the same level as Christmas in the US. It's a festival where Lakshmi, the goddess of money, is worshiped in a ceremony called a "pooja". The finance manager for Morarka Foundation generously invited us to his home where we got to witness him, his wife, and two boys participate in the pooja, followed by an amazing home cooked meal, and then the part that all Indian kids look forward to the most: fireworks. For days before Diwali, firework vendors fill the streets and every Indian family stocks up. They took us to the back entrance of their complex where all the other families that live by them had gathered to set off fireworks. I've never seen so many fireworks in my life. Fireworks were going off all over the city from about 7 pm until the early morning hours.












Lighting fireworks with the neighborhood.












Fay, me, and Erman ready for Diwali!












Lake Palace decked out for Diwali.




















The condo complex we celebrated Diwali at.

1 comment:

tamera said...

wow!!! what a marvelous celebration!