Festival Of Lights
p. 89 · Read in the full issue
They Celebrate The
• Fiji’s big Hindu population celebrated the Festival of Diwali on November 11—the festival of many legends—the “festival of lights”.
HOMES everywhere were lit, as a representation of good over evil, light over darkness.
There were multi-coloured electric lights, alongside picturesque earthenware lamps filled with mustard or coconut oil, burning with hand-made wicks.
The lights welcomed the Goddess Lakshmi who, according to Hindu belief, refuses to enter unlit houses on Diwali night, and thus the occupants may suffer financial com plications in the following year.
This is a tradition the trading classes like to remember these days.
Spring Cleaning
There are many preparations, in addition to the lights, to encourage the Goddess of Fortune to step into the house. There is a spring-cleaning, houses are perhaps white-washed, sweets are put out, traders close their accounts and carry forward the balance into new books, visitors are welcomed.
In Fiji, as in India and other places where Hindus live, the Festival of Lights is a time of re joicing and goodwill— S. M. Mudaliar.