Danya's Diwali Story

Diwali

On Tuesday afternoon, our class lined up and went to the hall.There were two men in kurtas. They waved at our class and kept talking. The men had turbans on their heads and had bells on their feet. We headed inside the hall and after a few minutes a woman in a blue dress came out. She told us that she was very glad to see us. We were one of the lucky schools in the whole of New Zealand to be chosen  for the group to perform to. She announced that the group was going to play Indian instruments to us. It took about 20 minutes for them to play the amazing music with a lot of unusual instruments. Amazed, I asked Mrs Morris if I could film the next section of the show. I filmed them dancing around the tabla player. They finished off beautifully. The host said we could dance along. When they finished them all, we applauded. Here are some Diwali facts, stories and more!

The story of Diwali

There once was a Prince of Good named Rama who had a beautiful wife called Sita. There also was a Lord of Evil, named Ravana. Ravana had ten heads and twenty arms. But there was a problem. He wanted to make Sita his wife. So one day he kidnapped her. Sita was very clever and left a trail of jewellery for Rama to follow. Rama found the trail and followed it. Rama looked through a telescope and saw Sita imprisoned on an island but unfortunately, he couldn’t get to the island so he started to build a bridge. When the bridge was built, he hurried across and fought Ravana. It was a hard fight for Ravana because of his 20 arms. Ravana finally killed Rama when he shot him with a magic arrow. Ravana saved Sita and they went home happily. All the people of the land heard that Rama had died and welcomed their king by lighting candles. This fight took five days, which is what we call now, Diwali. Ever since, this exact five days they lit candles to remind them that good wins over the bad.

  Facts

• The festival signifies the victory of light over darkness
• Hindus all over the world, and especially in India celebrate the festival by exchanging gifts, wearing new clothes and preparing festive meals
• During the festival of Diwali, fireworks worth billions of dollars are lit

Diwali is also known as ‘The Festival of Light’.

By Danya