What is Diwali???

[Mitch]

I just saw this on youtube, President Obama celebrating Diwali in the White House. Pretty cool!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsJUy_ZMYuY&feature=fvhl

Wow, I wanted to find out about Diwali so I went to wikipedia, it gave me different information about Diwali for different faiths, which is cool because there are different faiths celebrating the same days, with different meanings.

If you know about Diwali, please share! And let us know what it means to you.

Thanks

[Delaine]

I came across this video recently as well and I find it very interesting. From what I understand Diwali is a holiday shared between the Dharmic traditions (Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Ayyavazhi) in India and Nepal. During Diwali people light small clay lamps filled with oil to signify victory over the the evil within an individual. It most commonly known as the Festival of Lights.

I find the Dharmic traditions very interesting because it seems like they are a very inclusive community of faiths. Apparently people all over the world celebrate Diwali regardless of faith.

I would love to learn more about Diwali from people who belong to the Dharmic traditions. Looks like we could all learn a lot from them.