Diwali or Deepvali popularyly known as the Festival of Lights. Diwali involves the lighting of small clay filled with oil it signify the triumph of good over evil. During festival people wear new clothes and share sweets and snacks with family members and friends.
Diwali is five-day festival where each have great significance in indian history :
Day 1 (Dhanteras) :
Dhanteras is also called as Dhantrayodashi or Dhanwantari Triodasi, falls on the thirteenth lunar day of Krishna Paksha in the Hindu month of Kartik which means “teras” and “Dhan” means wealth. So on this day Goddess Laxmi is worshipped to provide prosperity and well being. Hence Dhan Teras is of great significance to the business Community.
On this auspicious day business premises and houses are decorated. Entrances are made colourful with lovely traditional motifs of Rangoli designs to welcome the goddess of Wealth and Prosperity. To indicate the long-awaited, small footprints are drawn with rice flour and vermillion powder al the over the houses. Lamps are kept burning all throgh the nights.
People find this day as the auspicious day to purchase gold , atleast they buy new utensils on this day as they consider that new “dhan” or some kind of precious metal is a sign of good luck. “Laxmi-Puja” is performed in evening when the Diyas of clay are lighted to drive away the shadows of evil spirits.
Day 2 (Chotti Diwali / Narak Chaturdasi) :
The day before the Diwali is called Chotti Diwali. The story behind this day goes this way the demon king “Narakasur” ruler of Pragjyotishpur after defeating Lord Indra have snatched away the magnificent earrings of “Aditi”(ruler of “Suralok” and a relative of “Satyabhama” Lord Krishna's wife) and imprisoned sixteen thousand daughters of the gods and saints in his harem.
Seeing this wife of Lord Krishna “Satyabhama” appleaded to Krishna to give her the chance to destroy Narakasura. So during the war Krishna swooned for a while, preordained diviently act adopted to empower Satyabhama to kill demon. After Narakasura was beheaded, the imprisoned women were released, and Krishna accepted to marry them.
So on the day previous to Narakachaturdashi, Lord Krishna's divine intervention led to the killing of the demon, Narakasura and liberation of the imprisoned damsels as well as recovery of the precious earrings of “Aditi”. As a symbol of that victory Lord Krishna smeared his forehead with the demon king's blood. Krishna returned home in the very early morning of the Narakachaturdashi day. The womenfolk massaged scented oil to his body and gave him a good bath to wash away the filth from his body. Since then the custom of taking bath before sunrise on this day has become a traditional practice specially in Maharashtra.
It is interesting to note that Bhudevi, mother of the slain Narakasura, declared that his death should not be a day of mourning but an occasion to celebrate and rejoice. Since then, Deepavali is being celebrated by people every year with joyous celebrations with lot of fun and frolic, and fire works.
Day 3 (Lakshmi Puja)
The third day of the festival of Diwali is the most important day of Lakshmi-puja and is entirely devoted to the propitiation of Goddess Lakshmi. Despite the fact that this day falls on an amavasya day it is regarded as the most auspicious.
It is believed that on this day Lakshmi walks through the green fields and loiters through the bye-lanes and showers her blessings on man for plenty and prosperity.
Lakshmi Puja is very important in the North and West India.It is extremely important to keep the house clean and pure on this day. As Goddess Lakshmi likes cleaniness and will visit the clean house first. This is also the reason why the broom is worshiped on this day with offerings of haldi and kumkum (turmeric and vermilion). Lamps are lit in the evening to welcome the goddess. They are believed to light up Her path.
Lakshmi Puja consists of a combined puja of five deities: Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of every auspicious act as Vighnaharta; Goddess Lakshmi is worshiped in her three forms - Mahalakshmi (the goddess of wealth and money), Mahasaraswati (the goddess of books and learning), and Mahakali; Kuber (the treasurer of the gods) is also worshiped.
Day 4 (Padwa & Govardhan Puja)
Padwa
The day following the Amavasya is "Kartik Shuddh Padwa" and it is only on this day that the King Bali would come out of Pathal Loka and rule Bhulok as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu. Hence, it is also known as "Bali Padyami". This day also marks the coronation of King Vikramaditya and Vikaram-Samvat was started from this Padwa day.
Gudi Padwa is symbolic of love and devotion between the wife and husband. On this day newly-married daughters with their husbands are invited for special meals and given presents. In olden days brothers went to fetch their sisters from their in-laws home for this important day.
Govardhan-Puja
Govardhan-Puja is also performed in the North on this day. Govardhan is a small hillock in Braj, near Mathura and on this day of Diwali people of Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar build cowdung, hillocks, decorate them with flowers and then worship them. This festival is in commemoration of the lifting of Mount Govardhan by Krishna. As per Vishnu-Puran the people of Gokul used to celebrate a festival in honor of Lord Indra and worshiped him after the end of every monsoon season but one particular year the young Krishna stopped them from offering prayers to Lord Indra who in terrific anger sent a deluge to submerge Gokul.
People were afraid that the downpour was a result of their neglect of Indra. But Krishna assured them that no harm would befall them. He lifted Mount Govardhan with his little finger and sheltered men and beasts from the rain. This gave him the epithet Govardhandhari. After this, Indra accepted the supremacy of Krishna.
This day is also observed as Annakoot meaning mountain of food. Pious people keep awake the whole night and cook fifty-six or 108 different types of food for the bhog (the offering of food) to Krishna. In temples specially in Mathura and Nathadwara, the deities are given milkbath, dressed in shining attires with ornaments of dazzling diamonds, pearls, rubies and other precious stones. After the prayers and traditional worship innumerable varieties of delicious sweets are ceremoniously raised in the form of a mountain before the deities as "Bhog" and then the devotees approach the Mountain of Food and take Prasad from it.
Day 5 (Bhai Duj)
Diwali, the festival of lights, is a five day long celebrations. The fifth or the last day of diwali is Bhaiya Dooj, popularly know as Bhai Dooj. The reason why this festival is known as bhai dooj is that it falls on the second day after the new moon, that is the Dooj day. And it is a day to pray for the long life of the brother, which is referred as “bhayya or bhai”. According to religious scriptures, Yamaraj, the God of death, went to visit his sister's house after a long period of separation. His sister, Yami was very happy to see him and welcomed him by putting an auspicious mark on his forehead for his welfare. Yami and Yamraj then shared a meal. He was so pleased with his sister's reception, he proclaimed that every year, on the dooj day, if a sister puts a tilak on her brother's forehead, then no one can harm her brother. Till date, this tradition is followed. Sisters perform puja for their brothers safety and well being. Brothers in return give gifts to their sisters as a token of love.
The essence of the Bhai dooj festival is that it is celebrated to strengthen the love between brothers and sisters. It is a day of food-sharing, gift-giving and reaching out to the inner most depths of the hearts. Brothers and sisters indulge themselves on this day by gifting each other gifts. Varied gifts specially meant for bhai dooj is available in the market.
Diwali New Year
Diwali or Deepawali, is not only festival of lights, but also marks the beginning of the Hindu new year. It is one of the most important Indian national celebrations as it is believed that the Hindu goddess of good luck visits homes that are brightly lit. Children make "deeps" which are small clay lamps to light and bring the good luck goddess to their home so they can receive new clothes and toys. The first day of Diwali is also a New Year of Business. All companies pay off debts and their cars are decorated with flowers and palm leaves to bless the vehicles to run well in the new year.
Ref: http://www.diwalifestival.org/
