The festival Diwali is celebrated each year by Hindus, Sikhs and Jais all over the world pushing love and light to the forefront of communities.
Within multicultural London, the festival is celebrated in a fusion of traditional and unique ways, with the sound of fireworks filling the skies of the UK’s capital throughout the latter weeks of October.
The date of Diwali, also known as Dipavli, is dependent on the Hindu calendar and took place on the 20 October this year.
The festival is known as the beginning of the new Hindu financial year when people ignite lights, pray and reminisce on the year passed and the one to come.
Hindu temples populate many boroughs within the UK’s capital creating religious and spiritual communities through activities, events and prayer.
Diwali is a festival gaining attention from a range of different communities, and in south London there are temples celebrating with uplifting plans.
Soma Boodram, 79, a devotee at the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society told the Londoners: “All Hindu festivals have a two or three fold meaning, the first one is religious the next one could be social.
“As part of this society we make sure outreach work is done. For Diwali, we will endeavour to go and see those unwell.”
Located in Brixton, the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society welcomes Caribbean Hindus, who in the 19th century were brought to the region after the abolition of slavery.
Most Caribbean Hindus moved from Uttar Pradesh in the north of India in January 1838 and arrived in Guyana, and this is a movement commemorated on Indian Arrival Day on the 5 May every year.
For many Caribbean Hindus, Diwali is a festival symbolising hope and inner strength to face life challenges.
The Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society was founded over 50 years ago and focuses on providing support for all age groups and cultures, not just around Diwali, but throughout the entire year.
This society will be celebrating on both 25 October and 2 November 2025, and started cleaning the temple and decorating over a week in advance of the celebratory day.
The uplifting nature of the Caribbean Hindu Cultural Society’s Diwali celebrations is continued all year round as they welcome older members of the community to a social club.
Every Wednesday there is a meeting from 11am-1pm open to all those who are of an older age in Brixton, not exclusively Hindus.
Boodram said: “This will hope to combat social isolation and loneliness with information sharing, music, meals and tea and coffee.
“We are a forum where Hindus and other faiths can meet both for social, educational and spiritual guidance.”
Further south, Hindu Society Tooting has several events for their devotees to look forward to, spread across the weeks following the main celebration.
Anup Saggar, 71, is the president of the Hindu Society Tooting and said: “The society has run in the community hall for over 50 years.”
“Two years ago the Mandir above the hall opened for a bigger space where our poojah takes place.”
This society’s approach to Diwali celebrations is to make them as accessible for their devotees as possible.
Saggar said: “We have people coming from all over the place to our society.”
On 20 October the Mandir was open from noon onwards and hourly Aarti sessions gave devotees the opportunity to attend and then return home for celebrations in their family homes.
They held a celebration for around 120 people with lunch at 1pm and then the main Maha Lakshmi Pooja ran from 4:30-5:30pm.
Boxes of prasad for members of the society were assembled for people to take home and enjoy.
Diyas, small candles, are a large part of the Diwali celebration and the Hindu Society Tooting were set to light 100 diyas in their Mandir and gift a singular diya to every member to take home.
To push the feeling of community on 8 November the society will head to the Wandsworth Civic Hall to host 300 people for a variety show.
Saggar said: “It is a merry programme that our devotee’s can expect with a musical play performed by the children.”
Reeta Minhas-Judd, 58, is the secretary of the Hindu Society Tooting and said: “It will be a show which Hindu devotees have rehearsed and out together.”
Minhas-Judd told the Londoners: “I have been involved in the society for the past year now.”
She spoke about their wish to create a greater online presence to push the society’s Diwali events, and all year plans, into the public eye.
Minhas-Judd said: “We have created a WhatsApp and newsletter to help with our communication, as we are receiving more hall hire enquiries than we have seen before.”
Featured image: Mandir at the Hindu Society Tooting. Credit: Asha Rajoriya
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22 March 2023
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