Diwali

Every year, Hindu Indian families from our school share some traditions of their important holiday, Diwali, or Festival of Lights with the rest of the school.

 

Several woman created this beautiful Rangoli on the floor of the school's lobby. Rangoli, a form of sand painting that uses finely ground white and colored powders, is one of the most popular art forms in India and is often part of Diwali celebrations. The use of powder or sand as a medium for creating these fragile Rangoli is sometimes thought to be a metaphor for the impermanence of life.

It is also traditional to light small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil within an individual.

If you look closely, you can see that Emilie has a bindi painted on her forehead. The spot between the eyebrows or 'third eye' marks an energy channel which is believed to control various levels of concentration while meditating. The bindi is said to retain the energy given off through this channel thereby strengthening the concentration of the wearer. The bindi is also said to protect against demons, the evil eye, or bad luck.

Today the religious significance is largely forgotten and the bindi is worn as a decoration. You will see bindis of every color, shape, and size worn by people of many different religions around the world. Indian teenage girls especially love to match a decorative bindi with the color of their sari and some bindis even have glitter, crystals, and embroidery on them.