What is Diwali?

Diwali is treated as the "Festival of Lights" lasting five days of celebration. Mainly, Diwali is dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity. In India, Diwali is considered as a major cultural event lasting for five days of celebrations. The first day is the festival of rangoli. On that day, people are engaged in their household duties such as cleaning, renovating and decorating homes. Devotees are using various colour lamps to create a colourful ambience. The second day is conducting the celebration of Naraka Chaturdashi. According to Hind mythology, Naraka Chaturdasi describes the story of defeating and killed Narakasura by Krishna, Satyabhama and Kali. The third day is the celebration of Lakshmi Puja. This Lakshmi Puja is the festival of Diwali. The main concept behind the festival of Diwali is the victory of good over evil and conquering of light over darkness. But the stories of Diwali is entirely different based on the places. In North India, the festival of Diwali is based on the story of epic Ramayana. The story describes that Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman entered to Ayodhya after a gap in exile and Lord Rama's army of good defeated king Ravana's army of evil. In South India, the story turned to a different way that it focuses on the victory of Lord Krishna by defeating Narakasura. The western India story describes that Diwali celebration is the remembrance of Lord Vishu sending Bali to rule the netherworld. In the eastern side, devotees of eastern India celebrates Diwali as the festival of goddess Durga and her Avatar. The story indicates the defeating of evil over good. Next is the fourth day of Govardhan Puja and it indicates the communication of husband and wife. At last, the end of the day is the celebration of Bhai Dooj and it represents the correlation between sister and brother. In some other places, the fifth day is considered for conducting Vishwakarma Puja. On that day of Diwali, devotees are conducting special puja and prayers to worship goddess Lakshmi and all relatives will participate together in that and shares Diwali is regarded as an auspicious day. From the morning, people are wearing new dresses and all the doors will open on that day indicates the coming of Lakshmi to their house, Devotees are expressing their gratitude by organising puja to People are showering prayers to goddess Lakshmi for giving prosperity and Lord Ganesha for an auspicious beginning. In the evening, people are decorating their houses by using lamps and celebrate with fireworks.