Festival of Lights Sat. Oct. 25th

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Festival of Lights

Saturday, October 25, 2003. 6 pm

 

Sri Sri Krishna Temple, Spanish Fork, Utah

 

 

Indian Festival of Lights & Thanksgiving (Two Festivals Rolled Into One)

Krishna Temple, 8628 S Main,

Spanish Fork, Utah 798-3559/787-1510

www.iskcon.net/utah

 

 

Diwali’ or Deepavali’ (Row of Lights), a composite festival, runs for

three consecutive days and is celebrated throughout India. The festivities

include an early morning bath, drawing of sacred diagrams on floor, new

clothes, elaborate food followed by firecrackers and illumination in the

evening. Often the houses are whitewashed to mark an auspicious beginning

and sweets are distributed among family, friends and merchants. Good over

Evil is the main message of Diwali. The first day of Diwali is called

Naraka Chaturdashi’ and marks the destruction of demon Narakasura by Lord

Krishna. The second day is in in honor of goddess Lakshmi’ who is the

bestower of health, wealth, and prosperity. The third day is Bali Padyami,

and on this day, King Bali would come out of the nether world and rule the

earth as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu during his incarnation as Vamana.

Diwali also commemorates the homecoming of Prince Rama to Ayodhya and the

worship of goddess Durga. The date of the festival also coincides with the

return of the avatar of God, Sri Rama, to His ancestral kingdom after an

exile of 14 years and many adventures. All the citizens welcomed Ram¹s

return home by brightening up the entire city of Ayodhya and setting off

fireworks.

The Diwali occurs during the lull between fall harvests and the onset of

the monsoons. Thus it is a time of thanksgiving, and that corollary festival

is called Anna Kuta (literally meaning, ³heaps of Food²) Lord Krishna

inaugurated this festival by inspiring the inhabitants of His village

(Vrndavan) to worship the cows on this one day per year and to prepare a

huge celebratory feast consisting of no less than 108 preparations.

Observing the above traditions, the schedule of events for this dual

celebration is as follows:

Huge vegetarian feast served throughout the evening, from 6 pm. $5.00

donation per plate. Samosa, pakora, rasgula, saag paneer, puri, sandesh,

hallava, papadam, kher, matar paneer, alou gobi sabji, kofta, malpura,

gulabjamun, and on and on. Bring a preparation if you can to augment the

feast!

6:00 pm: Fire Sacrifice: grains, seeds, etc from the creation of the Lord

are offered back to Him through the medium of fire-very colorful.

6:30 pm: Govardhan puja: Krishna once lifted a mountain named Govardhan

and used it as an umbrella to protect His devotees from a devastating

rainfall sent by Indra the king of heaven. This pastime is commemorated by

circumambulating a large hill made from a sweet called hallava, and

decorated with other sweets, savories, plastic cows, jelly bean rocks,

broccoli spear trees, green coconut grass etc.

7:00 pm: Dance of the Gods & Goddesses

Alia Bartlett* and Shaheen Sheik*,

Disciples of Malathi Iyengar & members of Rangoli Dance Company (Los

Angeles)

The performance features dances in the Bharata Natyam’ (Classical dance

of India) style to enact stories related to the gods and goddesses of India.

India is a storehouse of legends and these dances reveal stories that

depict HIM as the infant and then the lover Krishna, the handsome king Rama,

the learned Goddess Saraswati, the loyal but independent Parvati, the

fiercesome Shiva or the benevolent Lakshmi.

7:20 pm during dancers¹ costume change: Multi media Comedy presentation:

Count Dracula Gets a Gita, cast Karuna Manna and Jai Krishna Perry.

7:45 pm Go-Puja; Worship of a live cow with flower garlands and sweets.

Indian culture is that instead of killing the cows for 700 lbs. of their

meat, they are respected for producing upwards of 90,000 lbs. of nutritional

wholesome milk in a lifetime. And because we all drink the milk of a cow in

our infancy, the cow is regarded as a sort of mother.

8:00 pm Anna Kuta & Arotik ceremony: Lights in the temple room are

turned down and the altar area, is opened dramatically to the sounds of

conch shells being blown and gongs sounding, to reveal a food extravaganza

of preparations offered to the Deities. The whole show is illuminated by

flashing colored lights and dozens of votive candles.

8:20 pm: Ras Garba, Indian Folk Dancing (very easy for anybody to learn

in minutes)

 

* Alia has been learning Bharata Natyam for over 6 years under the guidance

of Malathi Iyengar. Alia performed her solo dance debut (Arangetram) in 2002

and has been a member of Malathi Iyengar & Rangoli Dance Co. since 2001. She

was first exposed to and studied Bharata Natyam at UCLA, where she received

her B.A. in Anthropology. She has now returned to school for Nursing. Alia

has a love for ritual performance and has co-produced and directed Chakra

Explorers shows for 4 years. She also finds much joy in salsa, hip-hop and

belly dancing.

 

* Shaheen, a first-generation South Asian American, began dancing at the

tender age of 3. Her entry into the classical arts occurred four years

later, when she began studying Bharatnatyam. Shaheen fell in love with this

traditional dance form and devoted herself to its study. Although without a

teacher for many years, Shaheen maintained her study on her own. In 1996,

she met Malathi Iyengar and the two immediately forged a committed

teacher-disciple relationship. Under Malathi’s training, Shaheen presented

her Arangetram, solo dance debut, in 1997 and has been a Rangoli company

dancer ever since performing around the nation, including Nashville,

Spokane, and Los Angeles. In addition to being a dancer, Shaheen is also a

choreographer, a poet, and a musician, her main instruments being voice and

guitar. By profession, Shaheen is a singer/songwriter. Her music embodies

folk and soul elements, combines both her Western and Eastern roots, and is

driven by her rhythmic guitar playing and the importance she places on the

drums, a product of her 20-plus years of dancing.