A dancer celebrating Diwali in Wellington. Photo: Wellington City

Pacific Scoop
By Lucy Mullinger

During Diwali, lights and fireworks brighten the skies of India.  For the eighth year in a row, New Zealand will be celebrating the event as well – with two huge events a week early in Auckland and Wellington.

Diwali, otherwise known as the “festival of lights”, celebrates the autumn harvest in India.  This usually happens towards the end of the year, between November and December.

The celebration is dedicated to many different gods and goddesses, depending on where you are from in India and whether you are Hindu or Sikh.
There is one thing that everyone agrees on during Diwali, however, and that is how important it is to spend time with friends and family during the festival and give gifts and sweets to special people.

For Hindus, the festival commemorates Lord Rama’s victory after killing the demon King Ravana.  The night before he returns to his home town after 14 years of exile was dark and miserable.

People lit divas (tea light candles) and candles to drive away the darkness of Amavasya.  The next morning, after Lord Rama, his wife Sita and her brother Laxman returned to Avadha, the world was full of light, in contrast to the previous dark night.

Indian student Ravinder Singh says he doesn’t celebrate Diwali in India as it is mainly celebrated by Hindus. However, he is excited about the event this year as it makes him “feel more at home”.

Singh says Hindu and Sikh people are very proud of their religions and this event symbolises “the contrast between light and dark, good and evil and wealth and poverty”.

Religious guru
On the same day, Sikh people celebrate the sixth religious guru, Hargobind Ji, being set free from a prison in Gwalior.  According to Singh, the guru along with 52 other kings was imprisoned by King Jahangir, who was a Muslim.

The guru and the kings were loyal Sikhs and they were sent to jail for practising their religion.

Once again, the town lit the way to Harmandhir Sahib (the Golden Temple) in the guru’s honour.

The day of the festival differs each year and is decided by where the moon is positioned in the sky.  No moon day or “Amayasya” is the day chosen to celebrate Diwali.

The director of culture for the Asia New Zealand Foundation, Jennifer King, says the event is very popular with all cultures and began after the Chinese New Year went so well.

“Light is a universal thing.  People respond well to it,” she says.

Indians people are the second largest ethnic Asian community in New Zealand after Chinese and the foundation wanted to give both the community and Indian people the chance to celebrate together.

According to organisers of the event, this is the biggest Diwali festival in Australasia and it is getting bigger every year.

Popular puppeteers
One of the most popular events in the festival this year are the puppeteer troupe, run by head puppeteer, Harij Bhatt, who arrived in New Zealand from India on October 8.

Bhatt and his troupe hand craft the puppets from wood.

According to King, the puppets are “bright and colourful and very popular with children and adults alike”.

Bhatt comes from a “family of nomadic, itinerant puppeteers” who have been making string puppets for many generations.

Another popular event is the Bollywood Dance competion.  This is open to community groups nationwide and embraces Indian people from countries, including Fiji, Singapore and Malaysia as well as India.

Neelima Kaushal is a teacher at Haypark School in Mt Roskill and she leads Neelima’s dance group.

The group have been dancing at the event since its conception eight years ago and they have won the event five times.

This year her group will be performing in four different slots including, duet, west side, Bollywood cultural classics and Indian folk dancing.  They will also be holding a fashion parade to show off their beautiful outfits.

This year, five young women will be in the troupe, including two 15-year-olds and two young women in their 20s.

Kaushal is an Indo-Fijian who has been living in New Zealand for 22 years.

“The event is always lots of fun,” she says.

“There is a wide variety of vegetarian stalls and a great atmosphere”.

Fireworks pollution
According to Kaushal, the event gets bigger every year.

Although Diwali is very popular all over the world, there is a downside.

Fireworks were originally set off during Diwali to burn off crops and kill insects.

However, with the popularity of fire crackers in modern times, they are also polluting the environment.

Noise pollution is also a problem.

According to the Times of India, asthma sufferers such as a 10-year-old boy, Hitesh Shetty, were badly affected by the smoke in the air during Diwali and the honorary secretary of the Asthma and Bronchitis Association of India at the time, Pramod Niphadkar said “It is the worst time of the year for asthma sufferers.”

Laws are now stricter about fireworks being set off during Diwali.

The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board banned crackers that are more than 125 decibels and most towns will not allow fireworks to be let off around silent areas such as hospitals, schools and courts.

Tamil Nadu is situated on most southern part of the Indian Peninsula.

In Auckland, the Diwali festival will be held on Saturday and Sunday at the Eastern Viaduct and Te Wero Island on the Viaduct Harbour from lunch time until 10pm.

The event will be run by the Auckland City Council and the Asia New Zealand Foundation.

The official Diwali Festival is actually on October 17 but is being held in New Zealand this weekend so people could have family time over the official event.

Lucy Mullinger is a Graduate Diploma in Journalism student at AUT University.

Diwali – the “festival of lights”
Asia New Zealand Foundation – the Diwali programmes