Diwali, Festival of Lights

[Guest guest]

WHAT: Festival of Lights

WHEN: Saturday November 13, 6 pm

CONTACTS: Caru & Vai (801)798-3559/787-1510

WHERE: Krishna Temple, 8628 S. State Rd., Spanish Fork, Utah 84660

ADMISSION: Free

 

The Krishna Temple at 8628 S State St. in Spanish Fork invites everyone

to come celebrate Diwali, the Festival of Lights, on Sat. Nov. 13 from 6 pm.

The event will include classical and folk dancing, live music, dramas, a

ceremony of lights, huge vegetarian feast, and offering of respects to a

live cow.

Diwali is a shortened version of ³Deepawali² (Deepa=lamps, Wali=row: rows

of lamps). Households in India put lamps in every window and temples

brightly illuminate altars to bring in the best for the upcoming year. The

date of the festival 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 Rama home by brightening up the entire

city of Ayodhya and setting off fireworks.

The Festival of Lights 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:

6:00 pm: Film on the Big Screen: World of Hare Krishna

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.

6:45 pm Comedy: ³Hell² In spite of its title, this is a funny play.

7:00 pm Classical Indian dance performance (Bharat Natyam & Kathak) by

Sutopa Barua, premier student and assistant teacher of Asha Gopal¹s Arathi

School of Dance in Phoenix, Arizona *(See photo & bio below)

7:30 pm Drama: Another comedy appropriate to the Halloween season called

³Dracula Gets A Gita.²

7:45 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

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

flashing colored lights and dozens of votive candles.

8:00 pm.. Worship of a live cow with flower garlands and sweets. Indian

culture is that instead of killing the cows for 700 lb.. of their meat, they

are respected for producing an average of 90,000 lb.. 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.

8:15 pm: Ras Garba, Indian Folk Dancing (very easy for anybody to learn

in minutes)

Throughout the evening: Huge vegetarian feast served downstairs while

program goes on upstairs. $ 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!

 

*Sutopa Barua has been learning Bharata Natyam since the age of 5 under the

tutelage of Kalashri Asha Gopal, the founder and director of Arathi School

of India Dances. She is continuing her pursuit of knowledge in Indian

classical dance through various Kathak, Odissi, and Folk Dance workshops

presented by visiting artists from India and Bangladesh. Her performances

have taken her across the United States, Japan, and Canada. Some of

Sutopa¹s notable performances include the Omachi Festival 1993 (Japan),

Forum of Bangladeshi Associations of North America 1998 (California), North

America Bengali Conference 2003 (California), Festival of India 2003 (Utah),

Bengali Literature Conference 2004 (Arizona), and the Spring Festival 2004

(Toronto). As a multicultural presenter, she also uses her dance experience

to raise cultural awareness among youth in Arizona. Currently, she is an

assistant dance instructor at the Arathi School of India Dances.

*

 

 

Visit our web site at http://www.utahkrishnas.com.

One drama every hour on Krishna Internet radio, at the Web site

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Best wishes,

Caru das and Vaibhavi