This post was originally published on murderiseverywhere.blogspot.com.
May the lights of Deepavali dispel all darkness in your life!
We went to visit the Deepavali Festival Village over the weekend, thinking it wouldn’t yet be as crowded as it’s going to be next week. But a great many people seemed to have the same idea!
Deepavali, the Hindu festival of lights, is a good time for us all to remember the importance of light in our lives.
Not only the sunlight that makes all life possible, but the ‘light’ of enlightenment and informed involvement–because it’s the only thing that can defeat the ignorance and apathy.
Deepavali is the Hindu festival of lights and a celebration of the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness. For some it commemorates the battle in which Lord Krishna defeated the demon king Naraka, while for others (Northerners and those reading the Ramayana) it’s Lord Rama defeating the evil Ravana.
For non-Hindu Singaporeans, it’s mostly about enjoying the festive foods and admiring the Deepavali lights (beautiful lanterns and candles as well as electric lights) and kolam rangoli–intricate floor art created with rice grains–outside neighbours’ doorways.
And of course the festival decorations are everywhere–
–along with notices warning of roads being blocked off and bus and train services being changed on the eve and the day of the festival next Monday.
But I’ve always been more interested in what goes into the preparation for the big day–you can’t tell from the photos, but the floral fragrance here was incredible.
And we saw these being set up for the procession–I’m not very good with crowds, or I would definitely come back for a chance to see them in action!
In the meantime, I never can resist a good elephant…
This chap was at the Indian Heritage Centre (also at Campbell Lane), along with some gorgeous murals–
I didn’t want to photograph real people because of privacy–but this gives a good idea of the hordes out shopping!
Happy Deepavali everyone. May we all be spots of light in the darkness!