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| Diwali »
Legendary Stories Behind Diwali » The Harvest Festival |
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Diwali is a festival celebrated by all Indian irrelevant of their cast, creed and religion with equal enthusiasm and gaiety. While the rest of the Indians are imbued into the festive mood for the advent the Hindu New Year, the agrarian society of India is jubilating for a different reason.
Diwali is also the end of the cropping season. This is the time of the year when farmers would be getting the results of their sweat and blood. The hard work they do all through the year is supposed to pay results in terms of a healthy crop. Harvesting period generally bear a lot of prosperity for agrarian society. Thus, the farmers pray to Goddess Lakshmi (the Goddess of wealth) for the best results.
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This particular festival is celebrated the very next day of Deepavali (another name for the festival of Diwali). As mentioned earlier, the Goddess of Lakshmi is worshiped and people perform her Arti. Special dishes are made by the womenfolk on the harvest festival. Especially, Poha or Pava made up of freshly taken rice from the field is prepared. Along with the rural farmers, the people living in the urban Western India too commemorate the harvesting season with great dedication.
Diwali falls around the months of October or November, which is also known as the season of Kharif when the crop of fresh rice is widely available. Thus, it is not only due to mythological reasons that Diwali holds such a great importance in India, but the day is auspicious in more than one ways.
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