Indian peeps -- Celebrating Diwali at home?

[dr.girlfriend]

Okay, help me pretend to be Indian here. ;-) As some of you know, my parents are both Indian, but came here in their 20's and I think their response to raising us in small-town nowhereville was to be As American As Possible. So, we did nothing particularly culturally relevant growing up. I'd like DS to have at least a little bit of a connection to Indian culture, and I thought Diwali is a nice place to start.  So, any suggestions for celebrating Diwali at home besides lighting some candles? 

[pb127]

We are definitely eating yummy food (just our favorite indian dishes) and I picked up some mithai/sweets already for the weekend. We do big gifts at diwali so we will have the kids open those on Sunday. We are also putting up decorations this weekend (lanterns, lights, etc) and may try drawing a rangoli with chalk.

Im not sure how old your DS is, but you can make and decorate diyas at home (http://www.instructables.com/id/Handmade-Decorative-Diya-Oil-Lamps/) if he's old enough. My kids are still little, so last year I grabbed some plain tealight holders, LED tea lights and gem stickers for my little guys to decorate "diyas". We turned the tea lights on in the evenings. We may do the same again this year. 

i also got a couple of books from Amazon ("Amma, tell me about Diwali" and "The DiwaliGift ") to read together this weekend. I'm hoping we can start talking about the meaning of the lights at Diwali and why we celebrate.

Other than that, we will eat, make a trip to a nearby temple (some are having a Diwali market or Diwali fair than a Pooja) and just do fun stuff over the weekend as a family.

I feel you on growing up in a small town in nowheresville! I did too and my parents did the same as yours! It's not easy to figure out how to celebrate holidays with our own kids when we didn't celebrate much as kids ourselves!

Hope you all have a wonderful time together! Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak!!

[starlily]

I'm not much use because my family isn't Hindu, so Diwali really never entered my radar until I was in high school and had Hindu friends.

Do you have any temples or cultural centers near you? I'd probably check those first to see if they have any events going on. Maybe string some lights up in the window? And of course have yummy food!

[raangoli]

Ditto to everything that pb127 wrote. Since BB is still so young, it's not a huge deal yet but we're going to do some lights, food, and gifts. I did buy a book about Diwali but she obviously won't get it so it's more for me.

[dr.girlfriend]

Just adding here...I think part of the issue is my dad is Hindu, but is very strongly against any sort of religious observation (he thinks religion has done so much to divide the Indian people). My mom is Parsi/Zoroastrian, but her religious observation is mostly related to (Shirdi) Sai Baba. My husband is Christian, but we've agreed to raise DS pretty open to everything -- answering questions and making him aware of different religions but not pushing him toward any particular beliefs. For that reason, I'm more comfortable celebrating secular aspects of holidays. Sorry, more info than you probably wanted, and hope this doesn't offend anyone.

[raangoli]

I don't think that's offensive at all. You can always celebrate it as a general holiday and the start of a new year (some Indians also consider this the start of a new year, some don't). Or even just a general celebration of good over evil.

[sequins]

My baby is only 17 months old so I haven't worried about it too much yet. We make sweets at home, we wear new clothes, we go to the temple, have a small puja at home, light lamps. Next year I'm going to look for a few sparklers and find a place that has fireworks.

[kimibrighteyes]

I was traveling back from Montreal yesterday and today is Halloween, so we are celbrating Diwali next Saturday. We do the candles (and put our Christmas lights up early). We also do sparklers, which the kids love a lot. We get Indian sweets and my mom tells (in very simple terms) the story of Ram etc. My parents are religious, but I am not, so I will be treating it more like a story and mythology rather than actual fact. I got some books from Amazon and of course the kids get presents.