UNIVERSITY OF UTAH, Utah — Hindus around the world are celebrating Diwali, the festival of lights. To help people who are far away from home still to get to celebrate Diwali, student organizations at the University of Utah are bringing Indian students together with a special event.
“Celebrations, lights, colors, sweets, we have everything here,” said Rakesh Vinnakota, President of the Indian Students Association at the University of Utah.
Diwali is all about celebrating good over evil, with loved ones all around. So they organized an event that reflects what the festivities look like back in India.
“You are so many miles away from your home country, but you can be yourself and express every part of you, and people here just accept it, very open to learning about your culture, it just feels amazing, said Supraja Ranganathan. She is a PhD candidate at the university and performed a song as well.
With little lamps called Diyas, live music, dance performances, festive decorations and food, the goal was to also show others what this culture is all about.
“For non-Indians to know Indian culture because Diwali is being declared as one of the holidays across the country and across the world, it’s an important festival, so we doing it large scale,” added Vinnakota.
“It just feels that you’re never alone. And you always have that sense of home, and feeling of belonging,” added Ranganathan.
There are more Diwali events this weekend. On Saturday, the Hare Krishna temple is hosting a celebration you can find here.
The Hindu Temple in South Jordan has rituals and festivities on Sunday. Both of which you can find here and here.
To all those celebrating, Happy Diwali!
