Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by people in South Asia once a year as a new beginning filled with love, joy and prosperity.
However, some international students said they were not able to celebrate the way they do back home, and they miss friends and family during this time of year.
In Canada, Diwali is marked as a single calendar day and usually celebrated for that day only. But in South Asia, Diwali is celebrated for weeks and honoured in different ways.
Heer Patel, a Police Foundation student from Gujarat, India, explained Diwali is celebrated for five days to commemorate the Hindu goddess Luxshmi.
“First days are for Dhanteras,” she said. “We pray to our goddess Luxshmi, then the third day is (actual) Diwali, as a proper Diwali day is celebrated with mithais (sweets) and patakas (fireworks). Fourth day is a new year and the fifth day my brother comes home and we celebrate.”
In addition to these festivities, they have a traditional dance called Garba that marks the start of Diwali.
“Garba is celebrated for nine days, and every night we play garba for three to four hours, and we really enjoy it,” she said.
In Punjab, where AI student Rom Chopra is from, people prepare for Diwali a month in advance and get together.
“My mother used to wake up early and ask (them) to do the cleaning, clean up the fans, and everything at home,” he said. “We used to decorate our houses with lights and do fireworks.”
In Punjab, people eat a sweet called chickeny chickeny which can only be found in local stores.
“It’s made with cottage cheese mixed with flour and fry it and add sugar syrup and roast. It’s so tasty and I’ve missed it over here.” he said.
These international students said they felt the absence of Diwali when they celebrated in Canada.
“I’m missing the vibes, and the people around here – they are very peaceful and everything – but the feel of home is kind of missing for me and celebrating here is kind of different,” said Chopra.
In addition, Patel said there are fewer people in Durham Region who celebrate Diwali.
“We have our community and we celebrated that, but there are not that much people we have here,” she said.
With only one day to celebrate, students are limited from embracing the full Diwali experience, especially with busy schedules.
“We just celebrate for one day, as we are so busy in our jobs, we just met two cousins and friends for the day,” said Patel.
In Chopra’s case, he was working on Diwali.
“When I came home, we just went out and ate something, and that’s all Diwali was for us, and that’s a missing gap in our lives,” he said.
This year, Diwali fell during fall Reading Week, which made it challenging for students to get together.
The International Education Office did host a Diwali Festive Outfit Challenge, and there were other Diwali celebrations in the community.