Diwali is widely celebrated by Hindus across the world today - with food, family and fireworks. But this year new mother Vishva Samani is starting to realise that women (and mums in particular) are the festival's key ingredient
I’ve always relied on my own mother to clean the house, create a beautiful rangoli (decorative coloured powder), make Indian sweets and host the entire extended family. But as her hair gets greyer and I inch further into my thirties, I’m starting to feel like I’ll soon need to man up and assume that ‘mum’ responsibility myself (my daughter being just six-months-old is my current excuse not to).
Diwali is among the most popular festivals marked by Hindus and relished as a day of family, feasting and fireworks. As a religion rich in symbolism, the lighting of oil lamps and candles represents the victory of noble virtues over negative forces.
It’s also a day on which the feminine divine Goddess Lakshmi is invoked in the form of a puja (devotional prayer). As the goddess of wealth, she is – as you can imagine – popular in many households.
“She’s welcome in my home if she brings lots of money,” announced my uncle, as we made plans for our 2015 family celebration.
Few of us perhaps realise that she doesn’t exist in the Hindu pantheon simply as a symbol of ‘getting rich quick’; rather she is said to represent what it means to be rich in spiritual values.
Referred to as ‘Mother Lakshmi’ the goddess stands for all those awesomely unimaginable things women are only capable of once they become mums. (And having recently become one for the first time, I should know)
Elevated to worshipable status for her ability to give unselfishly, the Hindu tradition places high value on the role of the mother.
No pressure then.
“It’s the mother who keeps the family together…even when it’s not easy,” my mum reminded me as she prepared the house for festivity.
Also high up among the expectations placed on a Hindu mother is instilling our culture in future generations. In fact from the moment of conception, the onus is on the woman to maintain noble thoughts throughout pregnancy for the well-being of her growing foetus.
The outlook is admittedly a little hazy, because modern mums are busy people - and it's rare to find a modern dad who knows how to make laddo and burfi. Their own dads typically wouldn't have been in the kitchen, and so those recipes and traditions are rarely passed on to the boys. (Though hopefully that might change).
Today with careers, children and hectic homes to handle, Hindu women's lives are often rooted in chaos; we’re barely able to clutch on to traditions at all. Thankfully sites like Lifehacker India offer kitchen tricks for any uninvited guests that turn up during Diwali, while online articles boast 10-minute turnaround Indian sweet recipes.
Part of the charm of lighting oil lamps or candles during Diwali is seeing how something so small can emanate beauty and joy, and spread it further - dispelling a little more darkness.
Source : telegraph
Few of us perhaps realise that she doesn’t exist in the Hindu pantheon simply as a symbol of ‘getting rich quick’; rather she is said to represent what it means to be rich in spiritual values.
Referred to as ‘Mother Lakshmi’ the goddess stands for all those awesomely unimaginable things women are only capable of once they become mums. (And having recently become one for the first time, I should know)
Elevated to worshipable status for her ability to give unselfishly, the Hindu tradition places high value on the role of the mother.
No pressure then.
"In fact from the moment of conception, the onus is on the woman to maintain noble thoughts throughout pregnancy for the well being of her growing foetus."
Also high up among the expectations placed on a Hindu mother is instilling our culture in future generations. In fact from the moment of conception, the onus is on the woman to maintain noble thoughts throughout pregnancy for the well-being of her growing foetus.
The outlook is admittedly a little hazy, because modern mums are busy people - and it's rare to find a modern dad who knows how to make laddo and burfi. Their own dads typically wouldn't have been in the kitchen, and so those recipes and traditions are rarely passed on to the boys. (Though hopefully that might change).
Today with careers, children and hectic homes to handle, Hindu women's lives are often rooted in chaos; we’re barely able to clutch on to traditions at all. Thankfully sites like Lifehacker India offer kitchen tricks for any uninvited guests that turn up during Diwali, while online articles boast 10-minute turnaround Indian sweet recipes.
Part of the charm of lighting oil lamps or candles during Diwali is seeing how something so small can emanate beauty and joy, and spread it further - dispelling a little more darkness.
Source : telegraph
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