Diwali celebrations around world wide
The Festival of Lights, Diwali is not only celebrated in India, but this is the only festival which is celebrated around the world with great joy. With the growth in Hindu culture and ethnic, it provides the great opportunity for the people around the world to participate in Diwali celebrations and perform the rituals along with Hindus. This really enhances the feelings of being part of togetherness with the group of Indians.
Many years ago Hindus have taken their separation from their motherland to share Hindu culture and are spreading the invaluable knowledge of Hindu traditions and beliefs to the world in their role as cultural ambassadors. Around the world, Diwali festival celebrations reflects the harmony among the people.
Britain Diwali festival Celebrations:
In Britain, Indians occupy the second largest ethnic minority religion. Most of the Indians celebrate all the festivals and in that Diwali festival in celebrated with other citizens of Britain. In Britain, Diwali festival is celebrated according to the Hindu solar calendar which comes in the months of October or November. People celebrate Diwali during cold, damp and windy days in Britain.
Indians in Britain start their Diwali celebrations with a visit to the local temple and worship the Goddess Laxmi with prayers to the goddess. Even they decorate houses with lighting, put diyas and lamps on windowsills or by open doorways even in such a cold and damp weather and eat special sweets made for Diwali festival.
Indonesia Diwali festival celebrations :
As the name represents, Indonesia came from two Greek words, where Indos means Indian and Nesos means islands. Though the country Indonesia has majority of Islam population, with just 2% of Hindus of total Indonesia’s population Diwali festival is celebrated. Since the Indonesian island of Bali which has a majority of Indian population celebrate Diwali. It is one of the most famous festivals of the locals here. Diwali is celebrated here is similar to that celebrated by their counterparts in India.
Nepal Diwali festival celebrations:
In the country of Nepal, Diwali festival is called as Tihar which is celebrated just like Indians for five days. They Worship goddess Laxmi and Lord Ganesha. During the first day of Diwali festival cows are worshiped as goddess Laxmi and feed the cows with cooked rice.
The second day, dogs are worshipped as they are the transporter of Lord Bhairava and are feed them with delicious food, which are prepared for them.
The third day, people decorate their houses with lights and lamps and prepare delicious food and burn crackers on this day.
Fourth day, is the special day for them as people worship and do offerings to Yama to take blessings from him for their long life as he the Hindu God of Death.
The fifth day is the last day of the Diwali festival, as Bhaiya Dooj is celebrated where sisters pray for long life and prosperity of their brothers.
Mauritius Diwali festival celebrations:
Mauritius is the country where Indian population is more, so Diwali festival is celebrated with great enthusiasm as in India at the same time. In Mauritius, Diwali is celebrated for the victory of Rama over Ravana and also commemorates Krishna’s destruction of the demon Narakasuran. People lit the earthen lamps in front of their houses. As Mauritius is a country of multicultural spirit, Hindus share sweets prepared with their neighbors and friends.
Guyana Diwali festival celebrations :
Guyana in Southern America is a Co-operative Republic country declares as a national holiday on the day of Diwali festival. People of Guyana celebrates Diwali according to the Hindu Solar calendar. They clean and decorate with illuminated lamps their houses as well as their nearby roads with a belief that while Goddess Lakshmi visits their home she faces no problem. There the tradition of wearing new clothes is the symbol of healthy souls in healthy bodies. In Guyana Diwali night is regarded as the darkest night of the year.
South Africa Diwali festival celebrations :
South African has a mixture of variety of cultures with almost one million immigrant Indian community in the world before Africa is separated by the United States of America. As there is a majority of the Hindu population stay in eastern regions of Africa Diwali festival is The most famous festival celebrated by Gujarat and Tamililians according to their regional variations of Hinduism.
Australia Diwali festival celebrations:
Near the Indian Ocean, a wonderful island Australia is situated with many of the Indians settled in this country. As there are large number of Hindus are present here Diwali is one of the festivals that is celebrated with enthusiasm as in India by lightening of earthen lamps and diyas with the touch of modernity.
Japan Diwali festival celebrations :
Being the land of the rising sun Japan also celebrates Diwali in a unique way. Though they clean up their houses, people in Japan go out into the orchards and gardens and hang lanterns and paper made hanging structures on the branches of trees. They do dancing throughout the night. They decorate the places of worship with beautiful wallpapers to make the auspicious beliefs related to the festival.