Photo by Magda Zatari on Unsplash
Diwali, the festival of lights; celebrated by Hindus, Jain’s, Sikhs, Buddhists, with a single message of spreading victory of light over darkness. Being the most famous festival, Diwali brings a different kind of joy to every age group. But due to the evolving times, the significance of lots of celebrations has changed drastically.
Previously the joy of celebrating Diwali was more about cleaning the interiors and exteriors, along with cooking mouth-watering food. But now festivities are about buying new clothes, hogging on ready-made delicacies, burning firecrackers along with getting a Social-media worthy picture.
Firecrackers were never a part of celebration in the older times. But, It’s visibly seen that many individuals waste a lot of money buying firecrackers that not just has adverse effects on the environment but also is harmful for small children.
As Diwali is around the corner, the charm of it is also fading away.There are lots of modern parents struggling to impart their kid knowledge of older rituals, as all of it makes a person empathetic and compassionate. India is a diverse country, celebrating the best colorful festivities across the world. But with the absence of this knowledge, it is challenging to make kids a part of the community they live in. As a result, the question arises on how to connect the children with the soul and heart of great festivals like Diwali?
So as to impart the right values to kids and let her know the ancient as well as the modern aspect of Diwali, we have tried some significant steps. Being a Sikh married to Hindu Punjabi, my family members and I try to pass on both the tradition to our daughter. Through this, she is able to adhere to both rituals and ceremonies.
Firstly, we do Diwali pooja at our home according to the Hindu tradition, and later we visit Gurudwara. There are different stories of Diwali of each religion, and the meaning of each differs too.
Hindu celebrate Diwali as the victory of Lord Rama over the demon king Ravana. In contrast, Sikhs celebrate Diwali as Sikh commemorate Guru Hargobind’s return to Amritsar after being unjustly imprisoned in Gwalior for several years.
Hence, we Sikhs celebrate this location as Bandi Chor Divas, referred to as The Day of Liberation.
The major reason why we try to celebrate Diwali in two different ways is to build awareness in our daughter’s mind. We try to educate her about various celebrations and how they impact an individual’s lives. As we stay in a country like India, the lack of religious tolerance makes it more important to familiarize youngsters with the prevailing customs across different cultures.
As a parent, below are the following reasons why I and my family believe it’s essential to celebrate festivals with kids:
Nurturing the life-long bond: In previous days, we used to visit our families at Diwali to greet each other, and build a strong bond which is required the most. When children meet their cousins, grandparents, and other family relatives, they will understand the importance of togetherness. It will also help to create a better bond with other family members over the long run as they grow up.
A better understanding of different cultures: Celebrating festivals like Diwali is a great way to teach small children about different forms of Indian culture. As we celebrate Diwali in two different ways from a long period our daughter slowly understood the difference and importance. Also, I believe that celebrating festivals with kids is a great way to impart values to the child as well.
Compassion for tradition: We often explain the importance of each ritual and how it welcomes good fortune for the entire family, as our daughter is too curious about everything. I feel that over the long run, once my daughter becomes an adult, she will follow and maintain the same rituals with their offspring.
Lastly, Diwali is a reflection of the celebration of good over evil. Hence, it is important to pass on the brave and noble stories that we heard growing up from our parents.
It also helps children to trace their roots and understand their culture better. A foundation of values often leads to a more peaceful world. Making special occasions more memorable is in the hands of parents and we should always do our part gracefully!
Very meaningful !! It’s indeed very essential to tell the kids story behind each festival and ritual.
I resonate with your thoughts. I am an immigrant parent and i completely understand when you said “ It also helps children to trace their roots and understand their culture better”. As parents we can only try to pass on our values. When the foundation is strong, the futures will be bright.:)
Oh really. It’s nice to know about the various festivals of India. Especially Diwali and dusserah. We only concentrate on Easter Sunday and Christmas.
Yes you had said it right. Festivals are great way to teach our kids more about roots and ancient traditions. I m in USA and here we didn’t get chance to celebrate our festivals in proper indian style but from my side I try to explain my girls the significance of festival celebration and also make them involve in festival related preparation.
I agree with you. Kids should be taught about our culture and the reason behind every festival we celebrate and that’s the reason we always make sure that we celebrate most of our festivals with grand parents as they have in depth knowledge and share the same with us and our kids.
In this modern times when kids are getting more influences with western festivals like Halloween n all, its imp to imbibe the Indian culture and the meaning of our festivals in our kids…. they r our future n if v fail to teach them about our tradition n values, our future will be in a grave loss.
Yes, i agree, also i believe, festivals are a good time /excuse to teach the children about certain sanskaras.
That’s very true imparting the importance of true meaning of festivals in kids is very important. Otherwise the traditions get lost in the modern environment.
It’s so important for us as a parent to teach kids the real values and culture we have from years and let them be connected to their roots. Thanks for this post!!
Very meaningful !! It’s indeed….Really very very essential to tell the stories to our kids about the culture and values of all these festivals. No matter what, we should connect to our root always
Sharing with kids each custom and festival importance in our life is very helpful and explaining to the them why few traditions were followed in the olden days is also important, we should not brush the traditions and follow the modern era as each tradition had a scientific or logical reason behind it. With time that reason may fade away but we still follow few of them , we need to explain that transition too.
So we’ll written. Other than holidays, sweets and firecrackers, kids need to know the true meaning that our festivals hold.
Beautifully written post. Good over evil and welcoming prosperity are the main aspects of Diwali.