Ann's Blog
Chaguaramas, Trinidad:
November 1, 2010
Diwali week
Steve is in Trinidad, scrambling to get Receta ready to go back in the water on Wednesday. He would have preferred to launch at the end of the week, to give himself a little more time for pre-launch chores. (I arrive in Trinidad on Saturday, and the game plan is to have the boat in the water when I get there, so we can start living aboard right away.) But an end-of-the-week launch date was out of the question: Friday is Diwali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. There will be no work done in Trinidad that day; in this multicultural country, where 22.5% of the population is Hindu (the second largest religious group, after Roman Catholicism, which claims 26%), Diwali (also spelled Divali) is a national holiday.
Although Diwali is officially November 5th (the date varies from year to year, since it’s tied to the lunar calendar), the celebrations spread out over a week. The festival symbolizes the lifting of spiritual darkness and spiritual renewal, and is marked by prayers, feasts, and the lighting of diyas, small clay oil lamps. (The word “Diwali” means an array of lamps.)
Steve took these snaps in the town of Felicity, Trinidad, during Diwali last year.
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