The Significance of Diwali

More Than a Festival of Lights

For most Hindus, Diwali goes back to the Ramayana. After fourteen years in exile, Lord Ram returns home to Ayodhya, and the people light rows of lamps to welcome him. The Valmiki Ramayana describes the city's joy on that night. That homecoming is where the custom began: lighting a lamp to mark the return of light, and of hope.

But Diwali isn't only about the Ramayana, and it isn't only a Hindu festival. Many communities mark it for their own reasons. For some Hindus it remembers Lord Krishna's victory over the demon Narakasura. Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas, the day Guru Hargobind Ji was freed from captivity. Jains remember Lord Mahavira attaining nirvana. Different stories, but the same idea runs through all of them: light over darkness.

A Festival Many Communities Share

Diwali has a way of bringing people together. From high-rises in Mumbai to villages in Gujarat, from Trafalgar Square in London to Times Square in New York, millions take part. Neighbours light lamps together and share sweets across faiths: Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, and people of no faith at all.

That's not surprising. The things Diwali is about (wanting light in dark times, hoping for a good year, being with family) are things almost everyone understands. When a grandmother shows a child how to light their first diya, or neighbours sit together making rangoli, it stops mattering whose religion it is.

Light Over Darkness: A Message for Today

That message lands especially well right now. Lighting a single diya makes a simple point: one small flame is enough to change a dark room. Small acts of kindness and patience work the same way.

Diwali invites us to:

• Make time for family, even when life is busy.
• Keep learning, and think for ourselves.
• Start fresh, and let go of what we have been carrying.
• Give to others, not just to ourselves.

Old as it is, Diwali still says something worth hearing: whatever the darkness, whether our own troubles or the world's, we get through it better together.

Diwali Around the World

Diwali used to be celebrated mostly in South Asian homes. Now it is marked far more widely: world leaders light diyas in government buildings, cities hold public celebrations, and stock exchanges from Wall Street to London note the day.

In Canada, Diwali has become a major cultural event. Cities from Winnipeg to Toronto hold public celebrations each year. In a 2024 message, Canada's Prime Minister called Diwali a celebration of "the triumph of good over evil, of knowledge over ignorance," and "a holiday of hope" whose lights encourage us to push back the darkness and find purpose. Federal ministers have said much the same, and affirmed the right of every community to worship safely.

Diwali in Canada

Across the country, from Winnipeg to Vancouver, communities gather at temples and community halls to celebrate. Local news often covers the larger events, and the picture is much the same everywhere: people of different backgrounds marking the day together.

Here in Calgary, and in cities across the country, Diwali has become a familiar part of the year, and a small part of what makes Canada what it is.

Celebrating with Care for the Earth

More families are also thinking about how they celebrate. Alongside the diyas and fireworks, some plant trees, run clean-up drives, or support a local environmental project. It is a small way of making sure the festival is good for the world around us, and not only for us.

Why Diwali Still Matters

In the end, Diwali is about a few simple things: hope, family, and the belief that light wins out over darkness. We light the lamps, we gather with the people we love, and we remember that we are part of something larger.

From all of us at HSNA: however your year has gone, we hope this Diwali brings a little more light into your home. Happy Diwali.