Goddess Kali enjoys a significant position in the Indian culture and Kali Puja is considered to be the perfect way of commemorating the goddess. Though she appears in various forms but the most famous image of Goddess Kali shows Her holding a severed head in her one hand and sword in the other, with Her foot on Lord Shiva's chest and a garland of skulls hanging in her neck. The depiction of this form of Goddess Kali has a famous legend behind it according to which during a battle, Goddess Kali became over enthusiastic and started destroying everything in her sight.

To stop this endless violence Lord Shiva threw himself under the Goddess Kali's feet. The goddess got so much shocked on seeing Lord Shiva under Her feet that she stuck out Her tongue in bewilderment.

In this way Her raging madness of destroying everything got over and everything was calmed. Since then Goddess Kali came to be depicted in the fierce form of standing with Her one foot on Lord Shiva's chest and Her tongue stuck out. Apart from this form of Goddess Kali, there are other avatars of Goddess Kali also which reveal her peaceful side as She is depicted as Benign Mother, the epitome of the Eternal night of peace and tranquility. There are in all ten avatars of Goddess Kali of which Shyama Kali is the most famous.

Kali Puja is performed to ask the Goddess Kali for sufficient strength to fight the evil forces and the enemies. The legend associated with Kali Puja talks about a boon granted to demon Raktaveeja that said that for every blood drop of his, which falls on the ground, hundreds of demons like him would be produced. Thus in order to kill the demon it became very important for not letting his blood fall on the ground.

Thereby Goddess Kali killed him with a spear and drank all his blood as it gushed out. After killing the demon, Goddess Kali became so overenthusiastic that She started killing every thing evil in her way. To stop this destruction Lord Shiva immediately threw Himself under Her feet and Goddess Kali on sensing Her husband beneath Her stopped the destruction immediately. Since then Kali Puja came to be celebrated in order to honor the Goddess.

The main belief responsible for including Ganesh Puja in the rituals of Diwali is that Lord Ganesh should be pleased and honored to ensure hassle free passage for the accomplishment of wealth, health and prosperity.

Here is Lord Ganesh Aarti, which should be sung at the time of Ganesh Puja for paying reverence and respect to Lord Ganesh.

Jai Ganesh Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh deva
Mata jaki Parvati, Pita Mahadeva.
Ek dant dayavant, char bhuja dhari
Mathe sindur sohai, muse ki savari, Jai
Ganesh...
Andhan ko ankh det, kodhin ko kaya
Banjhan ko putra det, nirdhan ko maya, Jai
Ganesh....
Pan chadhe, phul chadhe, aur chadhe meva
Ladduan ka bhog lage, saht kare seva, ,Jai
Ganesh....
Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh, Jai Ganesh deva,
Mata jaki Parvata, Pita Mahadeva.