Diwali

[namjiwankaur]

How is Diwali celebrated by the Sikh community? Also are there Sikh prayers for the Light that is honored in the Diwali celebrations?

Love,
Jasnoor

 

[spnadmin]

jasnoor ji

Diwali or Deepwali is not a Sikh holiday. Many Sikhs do celebrate Diwali as a cultural tradition because of their roots in Inida, its culture and its history. However Diwali has no signficance to Sikhi.

More discussion at this link http://www.sikhphilosophy.net/hard-talk/23871-diwali-and-sikhism.html

A few days before Diwali in 1619, Guru Hargobind led 52 Hindu princes out of the Gwalior fort where they were imprisoned with him. Bandi Chor Diwas literally means Prisoner Release Day. Thus the Sikh day of remembrance of Bandi Chor Diwas falls in Diwali each year and that is an important day for Sikhs.

 

[namjiwankaur]

Hi. Thanks for your clarification. I kept reading that Hindus, Sikhs and Jains celebrate Diwali, but now I see it is basically Hindu and also cultural. I also see that parts of it for some Sikhs is cultural and that Sikhs honor some historical things that happened on that date. I am new to all this. I know very little about Sikhism, Hinduism and India and other countries where Sikhs are commonly living.

Jasnoorkudihug