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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at GWU chapter.

And Why Do We Celebrate it?

Diwali is the Indian “festival of lights” and a holiday that celebrates the triumph of good over evil. It is also considered the new year in India. It is based on the lunar calendar so the date of the holiday changes every year. This year, Diwali is being celebrated on October 24th 2022, during fall break. 

This holiday is based on the story of Rama and Sita. The great warrior Rama was married to the beautiful Sita which made the terrible demon king Ravana very jealous. Ravana was said to have many arms and heads and was feared throughout the kingdom. He wanted to make the beautiful Sita his wife and one day decided to kidnap her and take her to his kingdom. Rama was very distraught and decided to go find his wife. With the help of Hanuman, Rama was able to find Sita who was imprisoned on an island. Rama killed Ravana with a special arrow and the whole world rejoiced. Rama and Sita took the long journey back to their homeland and were welcomed with oil lamps to guide them. Now every year on Diwali, people put oil lamps called dias around their house. The dias are also put around the house to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi to bring good health and wealth for the family. 

There are many different ways to celebrate Diwali but here are some of my favorite ones: I always love the traditions that my family has such as my grandparents coming to celebrate. We are dressed up in Indian clothes. We do a puja for the Goddess Lakshmi and Ganesha. Then my grandmother brings the most amazing food and we have the biggest feast full of everyones favorites. Then we sit around and enjoy each other’s company and gifts are given to everyone to celebrate the start of the new year. The last thing we do is go outside and do fireworks or sparklers to bring more light into the new year. We believe this holiday to be one of the biggest and most important out of all of them. In the following days, my mom brings baskets of sweets and other items to her friends to wish them a happy new year. 

If you ever have time go to a Diwali celebration, go learn about and enjoy Indian culture! 

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Maansi Chandra is from Winter Park, FL. She is a freshman at George Washington University. She is majoring in Public Health. She loves to sing and also loves to read. She never used to have time to write but she thought college was the best place for her to start up again. She is very excited to be part of the HerCampus team!