Diwali celebrated in Rarotonga

More than 100 members of the Indian community in Rarotonga commemorated the Diwali festival yesterday, with the hope of spreading love and light, as well as forgiveness.

Thousands across the world celebrate Diwali which falls on October 31 every year. Celebrants light rows of traditional clay oil lamps outside their homes to symbolise the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

Celebrants in Rarotonga yesterday were offering prayers, exchanging and selling sweets, lighting diya (oil lamps), and making rangolis (decorative patterns created on floors with coloured rice flour).

One of the celebrants and Indians who moved to Rarotonga with his wife and children 14 years ago, Achael Narayan Pandesi, said Diwali is all about love.

“Diwali means a lot for us, especially for Hinduism and of course our background from Fiji. For us, that's our biggest festival, celebrated right across the world, and for me, one of the things that really stands out about Diwali is just triumph over evil, or lightness after dark,” he said. “That's why we celebrate Diwali. You will see that Diwali is all about lights, candles and deers or oil lamps, which means, you enlighten your life with brightness, forgiving others, forgiving your enemies, whatever issues, problems you may have.