Diwali is a special time of celebration for New Zealand’s Indian community and this year, like so many before, will be celebrated in the homes of families everywhere as they share food, give gifts and light candles or diyas to commemorate the return of Lord Rama, his wife and brother from their 14-year exile (after the defeat of the 10-headed demon-king Ravana).
Diwali signifies the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil and the renewal of life; it is a beautiful time to celebrate with your nearest and dearest.
After an extraordinary year of disruption and uncertainty that has been so challenging, the region-wide celebrations of Diwali - The Festival of Lights lit up Auckland’s vibrant communities on 14 November 2020. As the Diya (candle) is passed on, the light is shared, bringing our communities together.
Diwali is a great opportunity to engage with your local Indian Hindu community, especially those members who are families at school. Extend your school Diwali celebrations into the community, by encouraging family input into all aspects of teaching, and learning. It is from families that you will get insights into valuable stories, artefacts, language, and customs.
This year, we celebrated Diwali at Tamaki college, and I was celebrating this festival first time with Tamaki college Whanau. I was very excited and curious about these festivals. All Indian community teachers want to represent their culture with their best. So they started making arrangement one week before. We planned how we will do this festival and involve Tamaki whanau at this festival. One day before we decorated the staff room with traditional decorations and with diyas. And we encouraged whanau to get ready with traditional Indian attires on the day of the festivals. We prepared yummy Indian food for our whanau. They really liked it.
It was just a way to represent cultural diversity and respect for all culture, traditions and rituals in Tamaki college.
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