While the majority of the student and faculty population at Leyden look forward to celebrating Christmas and New Years in December, others, like Junior Charmi Desai, have other well-known, widely celebrated holidays.

“[Diwali] is the time of year that is most auspicious for all Hindus,” Charmi said. “It’s like our form of Christmas and New Years.”

Diwali (pronounced Divali) is a series of Indian festivals celebrated in the fall. It typically begins at the end of September and lasts through the first portion of October.

“Our calendar changes every year, so there isn’t a fixed date for when Diwali comes,” Desai said. “It depends on when the auspicious days fall.”

This year, Navrati, the first nine day celebration in Diwali, started on September 29th. Following that was one day of Poonam, and then the unauspicious, or unlucky, days. After the unauspicious days, the holy days of Diwali will begin.

Traditionally, Diwali is a festival of lights. Originally diyas, or small oil lamps, were lit in homes, gardens, and on the exterior walls of buildings. Now many families, like Charmi’s, light candles in place of the oil lamps.

“[We] light decorative candles in every corner of our house to bring prosperity and happiness,” she said. “We [also] go to the temple and worship our God.”

According to Charmi, there are many common misconceptions about the Hindu culture and “that we’re very strict in our religion or anti-fun”, all of which she says are very far from the truth.

“Its important for them [the students of Leyden] to understand that there are so many rich and diverse cultures out there that they might want to learn about,” Desai said. “Our culture is [in my opinion] one of the most fun cultures a person could have, and I wouldn’t want to change it for anything.”