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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Holiday Open Thread: Happy Diwali!

Holiday Open Thread: Happy Diwali!

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Celebrating light (and sweets, and a thorough clean-out) sounds like an excellent idea, this year more than ever!

Firecrackers, I’m told, are every bit as important for Diwali celebrations as they are for Independence Day in America. Unfortunately, the smoke from all those crackers has become a serious pollution problem in cities like Delhi. Here’s a video from the Hindustan Times on one attempt at a solution. Another initiative:

Reader Interactions

40Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    Down below @41 on the Garden Chat

    schrodingers_catsays:
    October 27, 2019 at 8:28 am
    @gene108: Thanks. Happy Diwali to you too.
    I am making karanjis.

    There is a link where she has included the recipe.

  2. 2.

    Mary G

    Happy Diwali everybody. We need a holiday that’s happy too. I nominate the day Twitler leaves the White House for the last time, even if it’s 16 years from now (jk).

  3. 3.

    gene108

    @Mary G:

    “Holidays” like that are transient. Once the people, who have living memory of it passes, it loses significance.

    Gettysburg, Pearl Harbor, and eventually 9/11/01.

    Unless we can pass a law to make it an official holiday!!!!

    That’d would be sweet revenge by Democrats

  5. 5.

    Amir Khalid

    Ah, Deepavali fireworks. (Here in Malaysia we call the holiday by its South Indian name, since most Malaysians who celebrate it are of South Indian, particularly Tamil, heritage.) I was just wondering about the sound of small-arms fire that I could hear this evening. I wish light in their lives for all jackals.

  6. 6.

    gene108

    @JPL:

    Lots of recipes on the internet.

    Diwali sweets / foods vary by region.

    One day, I’m going to India for Diwali. I really do want to see it live.

  8. 8.

    susanna

    I have long understood Diwahli to be about people ‘seeing’ the(ir) ignorance in the world by casting light. And this is done by candles, lights, whatever provides illumination, for clarity and truth.

    Also that the fireworks and celebrations are fairly recent and not welcomed by older Indians.

    Is this true?

  10. 10.

    Mai naem mobile

    Happy Diwali ! Getting together with family and going to do some small fireworks and sparklers later. This is the first year in several years where Diwali has not been sucky right off the bat. Not saying that it won’t turn sucky by the end of the day but at least not at 6AM.

  11. 11.

    MagdaInBlack

    Friday when I left for work (still dark out) a house in the neighborhood was all lit up with what I, in my midwestern white woman frame of mind, took to be xmas lights and went all “WTF?”
    As I got closer, I read ” “Happy Diwali” on the porch and it made me smile, and made my day ?

  12. 12.

    jeffreyw

    There was mention made of Alexander Butterfield and the role he played in the impeachment investigation of Nixon. I think that story illustrates the value of interviews, behind closed doors, by knowledgeable staff.

    Senate investigators wanted to know what, if anything, he knew. He was invited to a standard pre-interview on Friday, July 13.

    Before he went, he had a heart-to-heart with his wife, Charlotte.

    “I didn’t want to lie,” Butterfield recalled. “I never entertained the thought of lying. But I knew what a big secret this was to Nixon.”

    He and Charlotte agreed that Butterfield would volunteer nothing; he’d only answer a direct question. “If the investigators asked me an indirect or fuzzy question,” Butterfield said, “I was justified in giving an indirect, fuzzy answer.”

    “Were there ever any recording devices other than the Dictaphone system you mentioned,” he recalled being asked.

    The session was not recorded, which has led to debate about who asked the question. Some say it was Democratic investigator Scott Armstrong, but many, including Butterfield, say it was Republican investigator Donald Sanders.

    Butterfield froze. This was a direct question. He hesitated, took a deep breath and answered, “Yes.”

    The following Monday, with TV cameras trained on him, Butterfield testified to the Senate select committee that Nixon had a taping system in the Oval Office.

  13. 13.

    Ramiah Ariya

    @susanna: There are many interpretations for the day. It commemorates many things such as Rama’s return to his kingdom; and the killing of demon Narakasura by Krishna. It is also the day Mahavira, the founder of Jainism attained Nirvana.
    In modern times it is always a popular celebration for kids. But they lose interest in it around college time; and then rediscover it after their own children are born. Also the pollution due to it has been climbing with population, and the Supreme Court of India has ordered that only 2 hours be allowed for firecrackers. This is seen by certain Hindutva people as an interference into their religious beliefs, so like everything in modern times, you could say exploding firecrackers is a bit politicised. There are Hindutva guys I know who are upset with the actress Priyanka Chopra, for example, because she said Deepavali affects her health.
    Most people fall somewhere in between though – in my case, I would love to put a stop to the firecrackers, since they can also be dangerous, but my son’s enthusiasm for the festival makes me go out and purchase a lot of them.

  17. 17.

    gene108

    @susanna:

    Also that the fireworks and celebrations are fairly recent and not welcomed by older Indians.

    Is this true?

    My grandfather was born in 1907, and died in the just short of his 90th birthday. He didn’t object, and he’s the oldest Indian I have met.

    Haven’t met anyone else, who objects either.

  18. 18.

    Joe Falco

    @Mary G:
    I remember all the “End of an Error” bumperstickers the mouthbreathers put on their cars in reference to Obama’s end of term. It might be a little crass, but I imagine someone with the entrepreneurial spirit will make some for when Trump is (hopefully) gone.

  19. 19.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @jeffreyw: He and Charlotte agreed that Butterfield would volunteer nothing; he’d only answer a direct question. “If the investigators asked me an indirect or fuzzy question,” Butterfield said, “I was justified in giving an indirect, fuzzy answer.”

    That’s really interesting. I went back and watched a youtube of Butterfield’s testimony, and admitting the possibility of confirmation bias, it really did look like he made a decision then and there.
    It also makes me think of Taylor– I think it was– saying his wife told him not to take the job with the trump administration. I wonder about all those conversations with spouses, parents, old friends, mentors. How many people were told “Don’t do it”?

    along those lines… Susan Rice gave a great interview to the ObamaBros– Pod Save the World– and said her mother told her not to do the Sunday shows about Benghazi. “I smell a rat”. Also, a bit of tea spilled on John Brennan, who apparently refused to do the shows. Tommy Vietor said, I can’t believe it when I see Brennan spending an hour on MSNBC in the middle of the day. Their tone when taking about Brennan was a bit… skeptical.

    And if you heard the mini-scandal about how Rice called Lindsey Graham a piece of shit, it was technically Vietor. Susan Rice responded, ‘He is a piece of shit.” It confirmed my own recollection/theory that it was Graham who really launched Benghazi! to stave off a Tea Party challenger two years before his own reelection.

  20. 20.

    Another Scott

    @Joe Falco: I’ve still got an Obama T-shirt that has that slogan on it, along with January 20, 2009.

    The Teabaggers always copy Obama, poorly.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  21. 21.

    smintheus

    Who will have to listen to Princess Crocodile Tears over this unflattering report?

    So she did what any rich, New York City media-connected, powerful spouse would do—and then took it up a couple of notches: Ivanka, according to [Vicky] Ward, called Esquire’s editor-in-chief at the time, Jay Fielden, and literally started crying, pleading with him to take down the story. Firing on all cylinders, Ivanka also texted Ward and said she did not recognize her husband in the Esquire piece. Fielden, Ward told me, instantly saw through Ivanka’s “crocodile tears.”

  23. 23.

    Catherine D.

    @Another Scott: I still have a Bush-era “American Tourist Apology” shirt that says I’m sorry our president is an idiot in the official UN languages. Should dig that out …

  25. 25.

    Anne Laurie

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Deepavali is Sanskrit for row of lights. Diwali is more colloquial.

    Ah — the way ‘Halloween’ started as a contraction for ‘All Hallows Eve’, the day before the medieval All Saints Day holy day?

    (Which I suspect most Americans don’t ever learn, these days… )

  26. 26.

    Amir Khalid

    Liverpool beat visitors Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 in a nailbiter after going down 0-1 in the first minute. Whew!

  28. 28.

    Amir Khalid

    I noticed John Cole’s’ latest tweet. Khalid Shekh Mohammed has more hair on his shoulders than I’ve ever had on my head.

  29. 29.

    schrodingers_cat

    @susanna: I grew up in India in Mumbai in the western state of Maharashtra, lights, earthen lamps and paper lanterns are traditional, fireworks too. Celebrations and festivities are a big part of Diwali. You wear something new. You have a special bath complete with fragrant oils and pastes.Wash your hair.
    You also exchange faral (special foods that you only make for Diwali with close friends and family). We made chakli, chivda, karanji and two types of ladoos.
    There 4 celebrations associated with Diwali in Maharashtra
    1. Narak Chaturdashi and the first bath (Celebrating Krishna’s victory over Narakasura)
    2. Laxshmi Pooja (Businessmen do a pooja of their books)
    3. Bali Pratipada or Diwalicha padwa ( you give and receive gifts)
    4. Bhaubeej (Celebration of the bond between brothers and sisters)

    I speak only for myself and not as a representative of all Indians. This is what we did. My parents and my grandparents and most of my friends and relatives who were Marathi.
    Husband kitteh is Tamil and AFAIK they only celebrate the first day of Diwali.
    Sometimes if we were particularly motivated we went to the Mahalakshmi Temple on the Arabian Sea. When you go down to the rocks you can see the mosque of Haji Ali.
    ETA: You got up at the crack of dawn on both the first day and the day of Bali Pratipada.

  31. 31.

    Mary G

    @Joe Falco: I’ve never seen or heard of “end of error” bumper stickers, but I live in California. I could count on two hands the number of Trump/Pence bumper stickers. Even my rabid Republican neighbors, who put up multiple Bush, McCain, and Romney yard signs, voted for Evan McMullin and kept the yards bare.

  32. 32.

    RedDirtGirl

    @Joe Falco: You can bet I’ll make commemorative buttons.
    I just early voted in NYC for the first time. Glad I live somewhere that is expanding rather than contracting the franchise!

  34. 34.

    Ruckus

    Because OT.
    Not to bring things down, but….
    My friend who lives in Santa Rosa is just outside the mandatory evacuation area for the Kincade Fire, which I’d be willing to guess will get bigger. Two years ago she had to evacuate because there were fires all around her housing tract and many homes were lost. She was lucky.
    I’ve tried calling her but get no answer. I hope she already left and is far away.

    If you want to see a map of what CA looks like fire wise, here is Cal Fire’s 2019 incident map

  35. 35.

    piratedan

    per WaPo…. supposedly Trump informed Moscow of Baghdadi’s death before sharing it with Congress…. if true, and it seems plausible, it just demonstrates that the guy in the Oval sure as fuck doesn’t his boss is the American Public.

  36. 36.

    piratedan

    @jeffreyw: I sit here thinking about my red-haired dream, if I can only get there tonight…. OHHH Atlanta, OOOHHHHHH Atlanta, Got To Get Back To YOUUUUU

  37. 37.

    Ruckus

    @Mary G:
    The trumper where I work has been keeping a very, very low profile, and walks way around me when our paths cross. Day after the election he was elated that his jackoff best pal won. I do believe that the shine has worn off. I really don’t know how to handle the situation. It’s work, I could lose my job and I’d rather not have to look for something else for another year, and I just moved a mile away.
    I don’t recall seeing a trump bumper sticker anywhere. They are around, but I’d imagine supporters know they are a minority.

  38. 38.

    Ruckus

    @piratedan:
    He was never going to think that the American public was his boss. His view of the world is that of someone in the very upper percentage of the population, the wealthy. Even though he doesn’t belong there, seeing as how his actual net worth is probably negative. And that position, no matter how false, is that they are the masters of the world and we are all just the worker drones that support him. I didn’t say the position was realistic…

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