Deepavali greetings | deepavali wishes, deepavali, deepavali pictures, deepavali greetings cards, deepavali 2010

deepavali greetings | deepavali wishes, deepavali, deepavali pictures, deepavali greetings cards, deepavali 2010

Diwali or deepavali is popularly known as the festival of lights. It is an important five-day festival in hinduism, sikhism and jainism, occurring amongst mid-october and mid-november. Diwali is an official holiday in india guyana, trinidad & tobago, mauritius, malaysia, nepal, singapore, Sri Lanka, myanmar, fiji and surinam.

In jainism, diwali marks the attainment of moksha by mahavira in 527 bc. In sikhism, deepavali commemorates the return of guru har gobind ji to amritsar after releasing 52 hindu kings imprisoned in fort gwalior by emperor jahangir; the humans lit candles and diyas to celebrate his return. This is the reason sikhs in addition refer to deepavali as bandi chhorh divas, “the day of release of detainees”. Deepavali is considered a national festival in india and nepal.

Deepavali marks the end of the harvest season in nearly all of india. Farmers give thanks for the bounty of the year gone by, and pray for a good harvest for the year to come. Traditionally this marked the closing of accounts for businesses dependent on the agrarian cycle, and is the last major celebration before winter. Lakshmi symbolizes wealth and successfulness, and her blessings are invoked for a good year ahead.

Posted by musicking on Nov 4 2010. Filed under Lifestyle. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry