Indian community to celebrate Diwali this Sunday at Rawacou

The Indian Community throughout St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) will gather on Sunday evening at the Rawacou picnic facility, next to the Argyle International Airport, to celebrate Diwali and commemorate the Indian heritage with food, drinks, dancing and social interactions.

The SVG Indian Heritage Foundation sees this as an opportunity to reflect on the heritage and customs of people of Indian descent.{{more}}

Persons are encouraged to bring and share their Indian style cuisines and enjoy music, songs and dances.

The theme for this year’s celebration is the ‘Triumph of Light over Darkness and Good over Evil, Knowledge over Ignorance and Hope over Despair’.

Diwali is the most prominent festival which has been celebrated in India for many thousands of years. This festival is celebrated with great fervour and joy, as it indicates LIGHT over Darkness orGOOD over Evil, as portrayed in one of the Legends of Ancient India.

The word ‘Deepavali’ the Sanskrit (one of, if not the oldest, known organized languages in the world) word from which Diwali is derived, means ‘Rows of Lights.’

People of many religions enjoy this festival. They thoroughly clean, paint, and decorate their homes with rangolis (i.e. artistic patterns using coloured rice, flour on floors and walls), they buy new clothes for the occasion and so on.

Then finally they light lamps and candles, “diyas,” distributing sweets and exchanging gifts among relatives and friends, burning crackers and fireworks…This festival of lights transcends religion and is unanimously celebrated by Indians worldwide.

According to the Indian ‘Lunar’ calendar, Diwali takes place on the Darkest Night of the year. And each year, whereever Indian people reside, they celebrate and welcome a new ray of hope into their lives through this festival, when all negative forces are believed to be removed from their lives and homes, with the hope of living their lives afresh.

Let us celebrate in Indian style from 3 p.m. until. Music will be provided by the Denzil Bacchus Band and a local DJ Persons are encouraged to wear Indian outfits, if possible.

And so, on this auspicious moment of Diwali, we of the Indian Heritage Foundation wish all our people of SVG Health, Wealth and Success for the New Year.