Diwali

This past Wednesday we celebrated Diwali in Fiji. I received so many Diwali invitations, it was ridiculous.  It got to the point that if someone didn't live close to the places we were going, I had to turn them down.  I had 7 places planned, but only made it to 5 of them. I got mendi (henna) done for the celebration - it is so beautiful, but I'm glad it goes away.  I was taught that you should always bring sweets with you when you visit an Indian household, so I made 2 batches of no-bake cookies to deliver to the houses. Everyone LOVED them & I'm hoping they add those to their Diwali sweet list for next year.

                               

Two girls came into town for the celebration, the other PCV in town & her friend from home - so we had quite the group with us.  It took about an hour for the 3 girls at my house to get ready, my neighbor tied our sari's.  It was nuts trying to get a taxi, but we finally found one.

Our first stop was a friend of another PCV in town.  We visited with him and his family for a little while.  He has been wanting to talk to me for a long time because I live in the middle of America, so I must have different thoughts on things, haha.  He was so nice & we had a fun time laughing together!  They fed us some lunch/dinner and we left before their pooja began.

Most families will have some sort of prayer (pooja) around 6 or 7, just as the sun is going down.  We were going to go to another house, but she told us to wait until after the pooja was over, but we weren't able to get a taxi all the way out to her place, so we had to skip it.  Instead, we relaxed at another PCV house until it was time to visit our other friends.  It was so pretty to drive through town with all the lights up!

Pooja set up at my neighbor's house

We got back up to my house & had some group photo's done - unfortunately the lights messed them up a bit.

Next stop- my neighbor's house.  They had some great decorations - they dye rice with create paper & make designs, very beautiful.  Everyone sets off Fireworks - I didn't buy any this year because I don't like wasting money, but I enjoy watching when other people do!

There is a hillside neighborhood close to my house - every year they have a competition on who can have the best lights, so we headed up there to check them out.  I also have some friends who live around, so we wanted to visit them as well.

Walking up the hill - I love my sari!

I made a new friend at a prayer thing I went to last weekend & she invited me over for Diwali.  Her husband is the fire chief, he is a Christian & she is Hindu - they are raising their three children in both faiths, so he always likes to promote multiculturalism.  When we showed up, the news paper was there so they asked us to get a picture with them....and just as we were getting set up, this Korean guy (named Bruce Lee) shows up, so they got a very multicultural picture.  They are a really nice family & have invited me over for dinner whenever I'd like.

This picture was also in the paper

Fire Chief's son playing with fireworks

After looking at all of the lights we headed back towards my house.  I had one more stop to make - it was 11pm by this time.  Four of us made one last Diwali visit to my friend Dan's.  He lives with his sister and brother in law, and they are so nice! (I forgot to take pictures, or I was just too tired!) I had another round of dinner & was really wishing i could take off my sari.

I had a great Diwali & I will miss the wonderful people of Fiji next year!


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