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Diwali – is the far beyond – being just a festival. This is festival of light. In order words, this is festival to dispel darkness. Darkness refers darkness of all aspects – right from darkness of inner soul to darkness of external world. This is a wonderful way to lead for future. In ancient days, every occasion is marked with a milestone or festivity. These milestones help to remind us about the occasion – in other words, the importance of occasion.
A seasonal juncture
Diwali is celebrated at the juncture of summer and winter. This calls for onset of change of season. This onset calls for celebration. After this, night starts growing in length and days starts falling short. This is typically an announcement for change of season. Lifestyle, too, need to be changed to cope with this change. This occasion calls for that as well. In other words, this occasion alerts everyone about the seasonal change.
Change of diet
With winters approaching, the diets of people too change. Fresh winter vegetables start arriving and diet may turn bit heavy to cope with chills which use to be fortnight away. Diwali too calls for heavy eating treats. These are generally made of pure Indian Ghee. It is said the pure and unadulterated ghee or butter made in Indian traditional way, paves the way for good health. In Ayurveda ghee – in right amount – has its own good impact. Apart from consumption, ghee is also good for various local applications as per Ayurveda.
Tradition of fruits
Gifting fruits during Diwali is an Indian tradition. Fruits are of utmost importance during change of season. Fruits are loaded with various micro-nutrients and vitamins. These are must for good health during season change. Gifting fruits has a scientific edge and advantage. By gifting fruits during Diwali, one wishes good health to the other person. Ancient traditions are always backed by scientific perceptions.
Lighting the lamp
Lighting lamp during this occasion is important tradition. This light provides and shows the way when the nights turn longer than the day. However, the light was recommended to be lit with pancha-tailam (5 oils). These five oils are coconut oil, mahua oil, castor oil, neem oil and ghee. These oils turn out to be the natural insect repellent. Worth to mention that, this season leads to growth of insects. These natural insecticides help to control the growth of insects. Infact, in olden days, when the chemical insecticides were not there, ancestors use such natural ways to deal with insects. These, at times, protected the standing crops on fields. Such natural ways had hardly any adverse impact.
New crop season
India is basically agrarian institution. Agriculture dependent population is quite big here. Just after Diwali – with onset of winter – Rabi or winter crops gets sown. This is a great way to welcome new season of sowing. This season is a vital for farmers as this is the most certain cropping season in year with minimal seasonal havoc. This builds the granary of the nation.
An Occasion of team building exercises
Diwali is more of collective action taken by whole family or locality. This includes cleaning houses, decorating, doing various rituals. All these can be termed as ancient team-building exercises. Now a days, corporates spend a lot of money on various team building exercises. But, traditional homes do such exercises on regular basis during festivities. These exercises keep harmony and enhances socio – cultural bonding. This festival is immediately followed by Bhai-Duj or Bhaiphota which futher strengthens bond between family members.
An additional source of livelihood
With festivity a lot of new businesses come up and a lot of people earn their livelihood. This brings additional source of revenue to homes and adds up a thrust to economy. In Diwali, many professionals take up many jobs – both small and big. This ranges from artisans, artists, sweet-makers, gift makers, flower cultivators and sellers etc. This temporary show makes livelihood of many people. This also contributes to economy in many ways. In other words, festivity provides a soft boost to economy on regular basis.
Overall, every festivity has many interesting facts attached to them. These come up from ancient times as a result of traditions.
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