Divali

Matt and I celebrated Divali tonight. Deeksha and Rajeev had us over for a nice evening of ceremony, great food, and of course, Settlers.

We learned that Divali is really important to Deeksha's home area - in the north, and not so important to Rajeev's family, which is in Kerala. It's a holiday where they welcome Lakshmi, the god of wealth. It's new year for businesses, and there is a whole story with a king, four wives, four sons, and an evil king from Sri Lanka. Deeksha said that everyone in her family basically eats the same exact foods, and do the exact same things that evening.

First, we made a design with colored rice at the front door to welcome Lakshmi. We even made her footprints, so she would know where to walk (in case she was confused).

Then, after the beautiful idols and flowers were set out perfectly, there was a whole ceremony where Deeksha sang a bit, she sprinkled water on some things, she blessed the idols, and then she put those blessings on us. She also put red dots on the heads of the idols and all of us. She also fed the idols a nice sweet (we got some too). They sang a song together - it was a bit catchy.
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Then, we all got red strings tied around our wrists to show that we participated in a Divali ceremony. Then they lit about 12 oil lamps and 12 tea lights, and we put them ALL around the house, and we also put all the lights on. This was to make sure Lakshmi knows where to go - she could definitely see clearly. We then got to use sparklers! I don't think I have used those since I was a child - camping. After that, we got to eat some yummy dhal and aloo gobi and yogurt.

After the spectacular dinner, we had a great game of Settlers. Deeksha and Rajeev caught on quickly. They were Settler Virgins, and they're "in."

Happy Divali (or as they say in Singapore - Deepavali!!)!!!!