Preparing for a different Diwali

As Diwali approaches, our local Hindu community are advised to celebrate the festival at home this year.

The biggest celebration in the Hindu calendar, Diwali celebrates the victory of good over evil.

Diwali forms a five day festival which includes the last three days of the Hindu calendar and the first two days of the New Year. Diwali is celebrated on the last day of the Hindu lunar calendar, which this year is Saturday 14 November.

Hindus usually celebrate Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, with family gatherings, feasts and firework displays, and exchange gifts.

But with Diwali falling during lockdown, this year’s celebrations have to be very different.

Ashok Chudasama, President of Blackburn Hindu Centre, said:

Diwali is usually a time for family gatherings, and the Hindu Centre organises a community celebration, but sadly we can’t come together with anyone we don’t live with this year.

As we adhere to the current lockdown restrictions, our members will celebrate a virtual Diwali, meaning we will still be able to see and speak to our close family and friends on various video platforms in our own homes.

We will still carry out Diwali decorations, drawing rangoli patterns near entrances to our homes, lighting candles in safe places, enjoying festive food and letting off fireworks privately in our gardens.

It’s so important that we follow the rules to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe at this special time of year for our Hindu community.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone in Blackburn with Darwen a Happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year.

Diwali celebrates the victory of good over evil, based on the Hindu story of Ramayana. Thousands of years ago Lord Rama came home to Ayodhya in India after 14 years in exile.  The whole town was so delighted that every house lit candles and decorated their homes. The festival name Diwali comes from the Sanskrit word Deepavali which means ‘Cluster of Lights’.

Councillor Mohammed Khan, Leader of Blackburn with Darwen Council, said:

Having celebrated Eid in lockdown earlier this year, I can completely understand how our local Hindu community must be feeling.

Many aspects of our lives have changed beyond recognition this year, as we follow government restrictions to control the spread of Coronavirus. This means that how we celebrate religious festival with our families must change too, to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe.

I appreciate that it’s hard, but we will get through this testing period and be together again in the future.

To everyone in Blackburn with Darwen celebrating this weekend, I wish you a happy and blessed Diwali and a prosperous New Year.

Diwali celebrations often involve fireworks and candles, to commemorate the candles lit as Lord Rama from exile.

Please take care if you’re using fireworks as part of your Diwali celebrations.

Only adults should set up firework displays, light the fireworks and safely dispose of them once they have been used. Children and young people should always be supervised around fireworks, and enjoy them from a safe distance.

Our top tips for using fireworks safely

• Plan your firework display to make it safe and enjoyable
• Only buy fireworks which carry the CE mark
• Keep fireworks in a closed box and use them one at a time
• Read and follow the instructions on each firework using a torch if necessary
• Light the firework at arm’s length with a taper and stand well back
• Keep naked flames, including cigarettes, away from fireworks
• Never return to a lit firework
• Don’t put fireworks in your pockets, and never throw them
• Direct any rocket fireworks well away from people.