Diwali: More Than A Thirty Minute Conversation in School

Festivals, celebrations, traditions…in other words, how people express their culture.

In the Indian community, one of the most notable of these events and easily the most widely-known is Diwali, a religious festival lasting five days, commonly referred to as the festival of lights. It falls on slightly different dates every year, as it follows the lunar calendar. The celebration is more than just an excuse to get together with large groups of family and friends, or eat your grandmother’s best home-cooked meals (while those are perfectly good reasons to celebrate). It is also an opportunity to demonstrate the love you have for your culture, the values it encompasses, and the unity it creates within your community. Diwali is our Indian identity put on display.

Myself being raised in America, celebrations such as Diwali are a particularly big deal as there are precious few other opportunities to connect with my Indian identity. The characteristic preparations during the hours leading up to Diwali are full of bustle, as last minute plans are formed, food menus are changed, homes are decorated, and colorful clothes are worn. While these seem to be superficial things, they are simply our way of showing respect for the festival and the triumph of good over evil that it represents. Despite the time that goes into preparations, not to mention the broader significance of the festival, many schools in America continue not to give school off for Diwali.

This is the case surrounding all Asian cultural events, stemming from a lack of cultural awareness and appreciation that is rooted in American society and its history. The most common argument schools will make is that they cannot afford to provide more days off during the 180 day school year than there already are, which naturally begs the question; is there some sort of method or justification unbeknownst to the student body that constitutes which occasions are given as holidays and which are not? After all, almost all schools provide a holiday for days such as Good Friday, Rosh Hashanah, Memorial Day—but not for Diwali, Chinese New Year, or Mid-Autumn Festival. Some argue that the reason there are more Christian, Jewish, and American holidays in schools is because these groups of people encompass the majority of the population of our country, but shouldn’t people of color be allowed to honor our traditions as well?

 Schools have, over time, gotten better about educating the community about various religious observations or cultural traditions. For example, my school allows students to give a presentation during a school gathering about Diwali, what it symbolizes, and how it is observed. This may seem like a fair compromise; without having to give the day or multiple days off for certain festivals, schools can keep the student body informed. However, what most schools and most Americans fail to recognize is the time, effort, and planning that goes into these celebrations; without a day off, it is impossible to truly honor our cultural customs, which are heavily reliant upon the aforementioned time, effort, and planning.

Stories from my parents about the little activities they used to perform, the same activities we are now forced to skip over, are the only reason I know how much I am missing out on. I have not yet been privy to the full Diwali experience…it is called the festival of lights, and yet my family only has time enough to turn on the lights in all the rooms and maybe put a lamp or two in the corner. If we were to celebrate Diwali the traditional way it was meant to be celebrated, it would be with candles and oil lamps lit up all throughout the house. A typical activity done in the morning would be lantern-making, where we would create and decorate lanterns to put up in every room. Family members would be spending time together all day, cooking food and decorating the walls, if these actions were not impeded with school and homework. East and South-East Asian Americans face the same issues.

Essentially, Asian Americans are denied the full cultural experience that is a right to every American regardless of their ethnicity. It is a simple thing we are asking for; a day off so that we can celebrate our culture to the fullest extent possible. If meeting a certain number of school days is such a stringent requirement, why not add four or five days to the end of the year? If the previous suggestion is not feasible, how about planning parent teacher conferences or other scheduled days off to coincide with the holidays?

When will Asian Americans get the cultural recognition we deserve?

Nikkul. “Diwali Diya.” Wikimedia Commons, 11 July 2006, commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diwali_Diya.jpg