Happy Deepavali!

November 5, 2010

Happy Deepavali!

It’s Deepavali! Before I came here, I had no idea what Deepavali was, but since EVERY HOLIDAY in the whole world is celebrated here, we celebrate Deepavali too. Actually, it makes sense to celebrate Deepavali here since 10% of Malaysia is Indian Malaysian. I guess every holiday is celebrated out of respect to all the famously diverse communities here – Muslim Malaysian, Indian Malaysian, and Chinese Malaysian. I’ve even heard they go crazy for Christmas here, even though they are not Christian. In December, during the hottest, most humid season here, there will be Christmas music blaring and fake snow and trees sold all over Kuala Lumpur.

Deepavali is an Indian holiday which is like the Indian New Year. Deepavali is about light triumphing over darkness, a good over evil idea. It’s largely used for Indian families to have reunions from all over the world. They dress in elaborately decorated, beaded, painted outfits, like gorgeous saris. They do henna designs on their skin. They stick jewels to their skin. And, they prepare a huge amount of food.

Rather than just a ritual, they use it to celebrate recent family events. An Indian Malaysian teaching assistant told me her Deepavali celebration would be to celebrate her sister’s first Deepavali as a married woman. An Indian neighbor is not allowed to do any food preparation or celebration because his mother died this past year. On his first Deepavali, after his mom’s death, it would be insulting to his mother’s memory to celebrate. So, they are going to Singapore for the weekend to celebrate, instead. They said it was an empty trip for them without seeing their family. It’s like our celebrating Christmas by ourselves (btw we won’t be! Mary and Harvey will be here!).

At the kids’ school, they celebrated Deepavali with all the kids dressing up as if they were Indians at a formal Deepavali event. If you look hard, you’ll see that Alice has a jewel attached to her forehead, and she’s wearing an elaborate set of bangles on her wrists. Ken went with a group of parents to Little India to get her costume and an Indian parent negotiated a cheap price for him, in an Indian language.

I got to wear it to work today when an Indian Malaysian professor got a few of us to sport Deepavali wear. So, if you look hard on me too, you’ll see Alice’s bangles and jewel on my forehead.

I thought I was safe this morning to wish a hearty “Happy Deepavali!” to the Indian Malaysian kids’ bus monitor, and she sheepishly answered: “No Deepavali for me, I am Christmas.”