When I was in the fourth grade, one of my friends who was Hindu, invited me to the Festival of Lights. We were good friends and while I knew nothing of the celebration, I was excited to attend. When I arrived I saw many foreign foods that his mom was making in preparation for the ceremony. His mom was always cooking and their house always smelled of spices. First he and I went upstairs and we put on what I assumed to be traditional Indian garb. It was so long ago so I cannot recall exactly what we wore, but it seemed to be a type of tribal Indian vestment that was white or tan in color. After we dressed we went downstairs for the ceremony. It lasted around thirty minutes if I recall and I cannot remember all that was done. I do remember receiving a red dot on my forehead and a piece of rice was placed in the middle of the red pigment.
Looking back I remember the excitement I felt going through the ceremony. It all seemed so mysterious and the stories of the four-armed god, Vishnu were deeply intriguing. I received a silver commemorative coin with the god Vishnu depicted on it. After the ceremony ended, it was time to eat. There was much exotic food that I didn’t dare to try. At 11, spicy food was not appealing. His mom made macaroni for him and me while the grandparents and relatives ate traditional Indian food. There was a tray of Indian desserts that looked more inviting to a young child and so I tasted one. It was soft and sweet, a type of pastry. The entire experience was so different from anything I had ever attended. It was a mixture of a religious and cultural experience, and I would love to attend a Festival of Lights now, as I am more aware of different cultures.
I especially liked the detail of the red dot on your forehead!
Hi, Luke (and anyone listening)!
If you want, you can also embed a YouTube video so it will show right here on this page: When you’re looking at the YouTube video, click Share > Embed, and copy the code that appears. Now comes the one tricky step: come back to where you’re editing your blog post, and switch from the Visual to the HTML tab, then paste the YouTube code wherever you want the video to appear.
So, for example, the National Geographic video you linked to above would instead look like this:
Html markup might look a little funky if you’re not used to it, but it’s nothing to be afraid of. I can post more on the ITF Corner if folks are interested. Let me know!
I liked that you incorporated a lot of your emotion as you described the ceremony. I certainly got a feel of how exotic the experience was for you. It would have been interesting to read a comparison of the traditions in a Hindi home to those in yours.
One thing that caught my attention was the second comma that you used in the first sentence. I don’t think it is necessary. Other than that, your grammar seems to be correct.
Diwali is one of the biggest holidays in India, comparable to Christmas here. All Hindus and Sikhs celebrate it across the world. Before I moved to America, that would be the one day where during the course of the year when everyone would visit one another, exchange gifts, and have A LOT of good food.
Your descriptions of the more subtle cultural aspects are not only accurate, but very well detailed. It actually reminded me of celebrating with my family back in India. Much appreciated!