Wow i had such a great day today! (aside from hearing about the tragic Dehli bombings) Today is Dhunteras, the begining of Diwali, when Hindus welcome Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth into their homes. Having cleaned the house yesterday, in preperation, i came down into the kitchen this morning to be met with the smells of yummy Seero (an Indian sweet semolina-ish dish with spices and saffron), and Mum and sister preparing for the Lakshmi Pujan - Lakshmi worship ceremony. My sister had been collecting flowers from the garden and was showing them to mum, "this one is beautiful! And this one isnt perfect...but neither are we and God still loves us" She is quite philosphical, often coming out with things like that.
"Are you ready?" mum asked me, "because today i want to perform all the puja ceremonies by your hands" - what an honour. The first puja was Surya-narayan Puja - worshiping the Sun God (Surya). This was performed in the garden where basically water was offered whilst chanting. There is so much that i dont know about our culture and religion, why we do the things we do, and this was such a great day for finding out. Mum taught me that we offer water up to the Sun God because "from dawn till dusk he is working to illuminate our path, so this is for thanks and praying to him brings wisdom because he illuminates our minds".
The next puja was Lakshmi puja, where murtis (statues) of the Goddess Lakshmi and Ganesh (her father, the elephant-headed remover of obstacles and God of luck) were bathed with milk and water and annointed with red and white powder, rice, and flowers. Here Hindus pray to Lakshmi to come and stay in their homes and bring with her wealth, both financially and of good health, and to Ganesh and his 2 consorts Ridhi (wisdom) and Sidhi (achievment) to remove all obstacles that may block the path to success.
Then after a brunch of beans on toast, some left over pizza and Indian snacks (what a fatty combo!) we went to Leciester's infamous "Golden Mile" - Melton Road. The road got this name because apparently, more gold is sold here than anywhere else in europe. This is the centre of the Asian community and displays of Indian culture are abound in almost every shop window. Gold jewellery, fabulous silks, delicious sweets and savouries are everywhere, and the shops like Saree Mandir (litterally: temple of Sarees) and Daminis, have a national reputation. Every year Leicester boasts the biggest celebrations of Diwali outside of India and Melton Road is lit up with thousands of colourful lights and decorations to mark the arrival of the festival.
The switching on of the Diwali lights has in the past attracted up to 60,000 people from all over the region, who come to join in with the unique celebrations. It was great to see this year that Leicester city council hadnt decided to put up the generic "Seasons Greetings/Christmas/Diwali/Eid/Vaisakhi" lights and had instead specially designed yellow lights with Indian oil lamp designs...as well as "Happy Diwali" messages.
"Are you ready?" mum asked me, "because today i want to perform all the puja ceremonies by your hands" - what an honour. The first puja was Surya-narayan Puja - worshiping the Sun God (Surya). This was performed in the garden where basically water was offered whilst chanting. There is so much that i dont know about our culture and religion, why we do the things we do, and this was such a great day for finding out. Mum taught me that we offer water up to the Sun God because "from dawn till dusk he is working to illuminate our path, so this is for thanks and praying to him brings wisdom because he illuminates our minds".
The next puja was Lakshmi puja, where murtis (statues) of the Goddess Lakshmi and Ganesh (her father, the elephant-headed remover of obstacles and God of luck) were bathed with milk and water and annointed with red and white powder, rice, and flowers. Here Hindus pray to Lakshmi to come and stay in their homes and bring with her wealth, both financially and of good health, and to Ganesh and his 2 consorts Ridhi (wisdom) and Sidhi (achievment) to remove all obstacles that may block the path to success.
Then after a brunch of beans on toast, some left over pizza and Indian snacks (what a fatty combo!) we went to Leciester's infamous "Golden Mile" - Melton Road. The road got this name because apparently, more gold is sold here than anywhere else in europe. This is the centre of the Asian community and displays of Indian culture are abound in almost every shop window. Gold jewellery, fabulous silks, delicious sweets and savouries are everywhere, and the shops like Saree Mandir (litterally: temple of Sarees) and Daminis, have a national reputation. Every year Leicester boasts the biggest celebrations of Diwali outside of India and Melton Road is lit up with thousands of colourful lights and decorations to mark the arrival of the festival.
The switching on of the Diwali lights has in the past attracted up to 60,000 people from all over the region, who come to join in with the unique celebrations. It was great to see this year that Leicester city council hadnt decided to put up the generic "Seasons Greetings/Christmas/Diwali/Eid/Vaisakhi" lights and had instead specially designed yellow lights with Indian oil lamp designs...as well as "Happy Diwali" messages.
posted by Azuric @ 10:31 am
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