Dev Diwali Pictures

On the river on the night of Dev Deepavali

Lighting the Lamp - May the whole world be filled with the light of love in every heart.

Lighting lamps in a patern of a Swastika - a symbol of good fortune and well-being (not at all associated with Nazism)






Sunday November 5th was the festival Dev Deepavali which in Varanasi is the most beautiful night to be on the ghats (the steps on the banks of the river)
The ghats are the focus of this holy city, especially this night, because thousands of people light lamps and place them in rows all along the river.

Ten of us rented a small boat together and spent two hours on the river along with hundreds of others. It wasn't the most fantastic Dev Deepavali I've seen- two years ago, there were more lights out - but it was very cool anyway.
Above you can see some of the pictures we took along the way. One of them a picture of a friend lighting one light from another which we later floated on the river - each one with a prayer for the city and it's people.

Diwali Photos

Diwali!

We just wanted to share with you all some pics we took a few days ago on Diwali. Diwali is one of the numerous festivals/holidays celebrated in India, and one of the biggest. It is also called the Festival of Lights. On Diwali the return of the king Ram to his kingdom Ayodhya is celebrated. Ram, the rightful king of Ayodhya had been exiled from his kingdom for 14 years, most of which he spent in the jungle. His wife is kidnapped from him by an evil demon called Ravan. Ram succeeds in defeating the demon and taking back his wife, returning victorious to claim his throne. His reign is called the golden age. On the way back to Ayodhya, people from the kingdom kept lights on the roofs of their houses so that these would show Ram the way back home. This is what people celebrate and remember on Diwali.

For us, Diwali is a celebration of the Light of Life who came to establish his perfect kingdom in this world. It is like Christmas! So, on this day we get together and worship and light diyas (oil lamps) and share sweets with friends. And, we do what all the other people do in India: light fireworks!

It is hard to describe what craziness is going on during Diwali days - the whole sky is full of light (and smoke!) and the air filled with almost constant bangs! It can be quite scary actually. They put fireworks in the middle of the roads, set off rockets, so all pedestrians and vehicles have to stop and wait for them to pop before continuing on. Saturday night some kid set off a rocket which flew uncontrolled just feet above our heads - scary!
We really had fun though ;-)

To wrap it up here we'll post some pictures on the next entry (above).

Shanti, Shanti, Shanti, (Peace)
Dana & Joel