From 29 October to 3 November marks the five days of Diwali, the festival of lights, celebrated primarily in South Asia and its diaspora.
Diwali is the biggest festival of its kind in the world. Commemorating the triumph of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance, it is often celebrated with fire in a show of lights, candles and fireworks that outclasses bonfire nights like Guy Fawkes and Walpurgis, Thailand’s floating candle parade Loy Krathong, and even China’s lantern festival, which closes out its Lunar New Year.
Sometimes called Deepavali, after the Sanskrit for ‘series of lights’, Diwali is a significant holiday for Hindus, Jains and Sikhs, plus Buddhists of the Newar sect. The different religions have different stories related to the origin of the celebration, but the core tenet is the victory of good over evil, represented by illumination that brings light into dark spaces.
If you are not religious, there are other ways you can celebrate Diwali* – with tea.
Day 1: The first day is for worship of Lord Dhanvantari, the god of medicine and health, which is great because there’s solid evidence that drinking tea for health reasons has scientific backing. It’s also an auspicious day to buy new utensils – perhaps add a fancy teaspoon or an infuser to your basket?
Day 2: A day to honour Lord Hanuman and Goddess Kali. The perfect tea for Hanuman, the monkey king, is Chinese green tea taiping houkui (‘peaceful monkey leader’). Kali, on the other hand, is the goddess of destruction so it’s a good day to jettison unwanted tea from your collection.
Day 3: Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity, is the lead deity of the third and main day of the festival, and the time for oil lamps and lights. Spark up a tealight and bring your vintage pu’er out. (Expensive tea, dark into the light – see what I did there?)
Day 4: Time to offer Lord Krishna a massive feast. The name of this festive day is Annakut, which translates to ‘mountain of food’. Why not accompany your meal with a cuppa from a mountain region? Darjeeling in the Himalayas is classic but let’s not forget Nepalese teas across the border and the Nilgiri Mountains to the south, which also offer some high altitude brews.
Day 5: This one’s for brothers and sisters. Gifts are exchanged, sweets are offered – and who could resist some chai alongside? If you’re a woman without a brother, you can make your offering to Chandra, the moon, instead. And steep some moonlight white tea while you’re at it.
*These suggestions are based on the Hindu guide to the holiday and are not designed to be prescriptive.
This article originally appeared in AUSTCS enews 29 October 2024.