Cultural Notes: New Beginnings.
Of Monthly Musings, New Years, and Old Rituals.
Hello Everyone! A warm welcome to all new readers of helloIndia!
I’m back with this month’s round-up. October was filled with rituals, family reunions, celebrations, and ancient ways of honoring the tribe and the gods.
The official day for over 700 million people here—and countless more overseas—to wish each other ‘Happy Diwali’1 was October 31.
This day marks a new beginning, as many consider October 31 to be the start of a new year.
I thought you might enjoy an insider’s view of what this special day brings.
The curious blend of English and Hindi words celebrating an ancient festival echoed across the technosphere through WhatsApp messages, GIFs, and memes.
Before the tech explosion, people regularly mailed Diwali greeting cards to customers, casual contacts, friends, and family.
Now, these wishes are sent digitally over messaging apps—either personalized with flair and custom signatures, or shared as generic images forwarded around the world!
Some friends and colleagues still drop by homes with gift boxes of sweets2 - a tradition that continues to this day.
These boxes may contain a mix of sweets or just one type, depending on the giver’s taste.
One favorite sweet often gifted is the cashew slice known as ‘Kajju Barfi.’3 Here’s a recently received gift box of cashew slices, topped with a thin sliver of edible silver!
While you can buy it without the silver, most sweets are covered with it - a decorative flourish perfected by the Mughals centuries ago.
Today, mechanized production has become standard!
Sweet gift boxes are packed by the hundreds in shops across every city.
There is no haggling in the sweet shop. Prices are fixed.
High-volume stores - especially the famous ones in Delhi - pre-pack the gift boxes while displaying sample contents.
You simply choose what you like, order, pay, and collect.
Businesses often pre-order hundreds of gift boxes for clients.
Other shops are old-school, packing only on order!
The best shops market their use of ‘pure’ ghee,4 a key selling point for both quality and price.
Businesses can earn over $2B in revenue from gifting during this one event across India, including exports.
Deciding to join in, the original British5 confectionery brand, Cadbury’s which began selling in India in 1948, launched a marketing campaign a few years ago to promote chocolates for Diwali. Ads featured popular celebrities gifting Cadbury’s chocolates instead of traditional sweets making it cool and acceptable.
Apart from milk-based sweets and chocolates, gifting options include “dry fruits.”
Health-conscious individuals opt for ready-to-go, shrink wrapped, gift boxes of nuts and dried fruits6 —such as almonds, pistachios, cashews, and raisins—priced between $15 and $30, depending on the quantity.
Presentation is everything!
At some workplaces, sweet boxes are gifted to employees. Would you prefer the sweets, the $bonus, or both? 😊
Typically, the event spans 3 to 5 days, though not everyone who observes the customs fully understands the reasons behind the rituals.
In some years, like this one, key rituals may be condensed into a 1-2 day celebration based on the lunar calendar.
There are as many variations to what unfolds on the days as there are regions in India.
Plus, traditions can also vary based on family customs.
I’ll focus on some common elements here, starting with the preparations for it.
First up is the decorative lighting - electric lights are arranged on buildings and homes to signal the upcoming day.
Check out a Starbucks building getting ready for the big day this year.
Jewelry stores are particularly bright, as purchasing gold and diamonds during this time is considered a favorable omen.
A specific day is dedicated to buying gold and other precious metals as it is believed making a purchase on that day attracts abundance in the new year.
Customers flock to these stores, and some businesses gift tiny gold coins to valued clients as tokens of appreciation.
The grander the store, the more elaborate the displays.
Admiring the various lighting displays becomes a popular pastime, especially in gated communities—similar to how people check out neighborhood homes decorated for Christmas.
Another key activity is the Indian equivalent of spring cleaning, undertaken across homes, shops, and workplaces.
Preparations also include a fun aspect—shopping!
The accepted practice is to wear new clothes, whether bought specifically for the occasion or previously purchased and stashed away unworn. The key word is: new.
Collectively, these actions signal abundance.
As I noted in last month’s musing, the best sales and discounts of the year are reserved for these festive events, allowing people to stretch their rupees further.
Essential purchases include:
Decorative and plain clay or mud-lamps, cotton wicks and oil.
Flowers, fruits and sweets for the main worship rituals at home.
The evening before the big day—in this case, October 30—many homes light at least two pairs of mud lamps with cotton wicks dipped in oil, placing them strategically at various entrances of their homes, including front and backyards, and worship areas.
Check out the former British Prime Minister and his family famously lighting these lamps at 10 Downing Street.
The big day - October 31 - began at 5 or 6 am with someone nearby ‘bursting’ the first few firecrackers of the day.
This heralds the dawn of the grand occasion - honoring the victorious return of the most famous incarnation of the Preserver-God7 who vanquished infamous demons and re-established good in the world.
This is the essence of the celebration each year: Good Wins. Truth Prevails. Always.
Listen to the sounds as we heard it that day:
In the morning, a tradition dating back to the 3rd century unfolds as the entrance areas outside homes are decorated using a powder made from ground rice, sand, brick, and chalk8 to create artistic designs that welcome the gods.
The rest of the morning is a chance to catch up on shopping errands.
Special lunches are prepared, complete with plenty of desserts, which are first offered to the family deities. 9
The day’s main event is the evening ‘puja,’ 10 or worship, of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Prosperity and consort of the Preserver-God!
In some families, there is a ritual of gambling on the night of Diwali.
Businesses close their accounts and stop selling goods after a certain time.
In the digital software age, business owners still purchase traditional accounting books and make sample entries in them to present during the evening worship, signaling a new year - regardless of when the government thinks the tax year begins and ends!
Fruits, sweets, gold, silver, and flowers are also offered in worship—at work, in shops, and at home.
As dusk begins, the entrances to homes and worship areas—including external gates, yards, verandahs, main thresholds, and balconies—are adorned with either oil-and-cotton-wick lamps (the traditional choice) or candle-based lamps (the modern, budget-friendly option).
The tradition of illuminating homes with oil lamps dates back to ancient times when it was used to symbolize the dispelling of evil and darkness.
It also created a stunning display for the returning victorious heroes, allowing them to see their city aglow in celebration, with citizens dressed in their finest attire waiting to welcome them home.
Once the puja has officially begun at the specified time,11 firecrackers begin to light up the sky. On its completion, people visit friends and family in their new finery, bearing gift boxes.
This is also the season of giving to those who may not afford sweets, firecrackers, and clothes—especially for their children.
The crescendo of popular types of firecrackers builds for hours - often from 7 pm to 11 pm ending in a grand finale. Some zealous folks may go past midnight!
Rockets shoot into the sky, bursting into an array of colors reminiscent of July 4th fireworks displays.
There are floor spinners, sparklers, kid-friendly pencils, and ‘flowerpots’ that rise up like fire fountains.
Intermittently crackling red ‘ladis’ or garlands—essentially wrapped gunpowder - are quite common.
Others prefer the heart-stoppingly loud ‘Lakshmi’ bombs, which produce a single, thunderous boom that may not be sit well with unsuspecting audiences.
Leftover firecrackers are burned over the next few days, while sparklers and ‘flowerpots’ are sometimes saved for another festive event that occurs three weeks after Diwali.
Here is a ‘flowerpot’ ignited on that day!
This is a sample of what it sounded like from our backyard late at night on the big day:
You must be cautious while walking in residential lanes—you never know when a live cracker might go off right in front of you, prompting an inevitable skip, hop, and jump to dodge errant crackers tossed about by excited kids whose only recourse to open ground is the street.
The use of firecrackers is a relatively recent addition, likely introduced after the invention of gunpowder and its arrival in India around 1400 A.D.12
It may surprise you to learn that anyone can buy firecrackers, including children and teens, without restrictions.
Temporary stalls spring up across town weeks in advance, and vendors eagerly aim to extinguish their inventory the day after the festivities!
I also found a stall selling firecrackers by the ‘kilogram (kg)’13 —yes, by weight! Different firecrackers were grouped by price, ranging from $10 to $15 per kilo, and sold in an exhibition hall that’s usually booked for weddings! This is quite odd considering that the boxes often weigh more than the firecrackers themselves.14
The noise continued until 1 am this year and carried on the next evening.
Then, just as abruptly, it ended, and everyone returned to a normal day!
Now that the fall season’s rituals are behind us, the country can take a breather and recover from the feasting and celebrations of the past two months.
For those not participating in the festivities, the break in pace and mandatory holidays offer a welcome respite from daily life.
But for many, the back-to-back months of festive rituals can be exhausting.
Traditions and rituals must be followed, preparations must be orderly, and spending must cover at least the essentials.
As the last remnants of firecrackers fade into the night sky, the twinkling lights linger in many establishments and homes, often glowing until New Year's Day.
Even in our fast-paced, modern world, the essence of tradition, community, and renewal remains at the heart of many lives here.
Stories and rituals bind humans the world over.
More than any mores, these ancient events remind us that no matter how dark the night may seem, the forces of good and truth ultimately prevail.
Celebrating that victory is worth the effort each year!
Thanks for reading. Until next month, fare thee well!
p.s. I hope you enjoyed this month’s lengthy musing! Read my other monthly roundups under ‘Musings.’
You may also like my recent post on the writer’s flywheel for my other publication, TechMadeSimple.
In Sanskrit, this day is called Deepavali - a term still used in many regions and local languages. “Deepa” = "lights," and “vali” = "row," symbolizing a row of lights. Its shortened name is "Diwali," a simpler term for many.
Here, these are called sweets, not dessert.
The word ‘Barfi’ derives from the word"barf" (pronounced "burf," not the English ‘barf’) which comes from Persian, meaning snow. Hence, "barfi," (pronounced "burfi") indicates the white, milk-based sweet. Also known as "Kajju Katli," where "katli" means "thin slice" in Hindi. This sweet can be made from either cashews (kajju) or almonds (badam) along with milk, and sugar. It is believed to have been inspired by a Persian dessert and was first created hundreds of years ago.
Ghee is a clarified fat made by simmering milk to separate the milk solids from the liquid. It has a rich, nutty flavor and a high smoke point, making it ideal for cooking. Common in Indian cuisine, ghee is considered a healthy fat and has gained popularity in the USA for keto diets, including its use in bullet coffee. However, it is high in calories, with approximately 120 calories per tablespoon. That’s why it’s considered a rich treat!
Now owned by Mondelez’s after its spinoff from the American company, Kraft Foods.
These are colloquially grouped as ‘dry fruit.’
The main celebration is believed to for the day when Rama returned victorious after 14 years of exile and having vanquished Ravana, the demon-king after a terrible ten-day war; Also believed to be the day, Krishna, in a later period, vanquished a demon known as ‘Narakasur(a)’ who tormented the world. Yet other stories abound as each of the three to five days are associated with different myths, and are weighted depending on the region. Regardless, the universal belief of good >evil still holds through them all.
Homes usually have a separate place of worship.
Puja/Pooja in Sanskrit means worship. It is also another popular Indian female name.
According to the lunar calendar
In recent years, environmental awareness has led to a reduction in the volume and type of firecrackers used. Some cities, like Delhi, with significant pollution concerns, and others with environmentally-conscious residents in gated communities impose limits or discourage the use of firecrackers. However, it is hard to eliminate an 800-year-old custom entirely—especially since the association with the celebration is quite strong.
1 kilo/kg = 2.2 lbs.
Some non-standard manufacturer items contained smaller-sized sparklers—quite misleading given the size of the box! Since some food items, like cooked rice or ‘biryani’ and Indian-Chinese dishes, are sold by the kilo (a clever marketing idea!), people might have come to believe that firecrackers could be cheaper by the kilo as well - not quite!
This piece is a joy to read, Jayshree, vivid and evocative from the smallest sweets to the biggest bombs of the night. The photos and audio provide an immersive experience that allows me to get a glimpse of the writer, the writing, and the world beyond the text. Such a beautiful message and feeling especially powerful on this Election Day in the U.S. Thank you for all the care and work you dedicated to making it and sharing it—a box of sweets itself with a few fireworks included.
Sweet snacks, firecrackers and ghee. What's not to like about Diwali?
Thanks, Jayshree, for taking my mind off our election.
Not understanding Indian culture much some 15 years ago I was joking around with the father of a local Indian restaurant owner. I'd been a regular patron for several years. It was Diwali so I asked the father if it would be a wonderful thing to celebrate Diwali, a celebration that depended on seasonal and lunar things more so than just a fixed date (so I thought), twice a year, once in the Northern Hemisphere and then again in the Southern Hemisphere when the seasons changed. But what did I know? I was just making conversation. I surmise that the old man was offended because subsequent visits to the restaurant were frosty. The father and son who used to greet me and my wife were now avoiding me.
No matter. When my eldest daughter visits she cooks Indian food on occasion. She had grad student friends at Penn State from India who shared recipes and secret spices with her. My wife also has a knack for reverse engineering and can prepare at home anything she eats in a restaurant.
While I miss their good food and all-you-can-eat Sunday brunches I have not gone hungry. Plenty of fish in the sea.