Deepavali Pictures
ByDeepavali Festival in Melaka in Malaysia
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Dancers from Assam in India demonstrating traditional dances at the annual Melaka Deepavali Festival. This drew hundreds of participants from the strong Indian community here. We thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
Free food for all! Mouthwatering lamb and chicken curries to sample while watching the dancing. Everyone at the festival was extremely hospitable and friendly.
Margaret chatting to a friendly stall holder selling sweet pastries and other Deepavali delicacies about a week before the festival.
Kolam is a form of design or pattern drawn by delicately pouring coloured rice flour onto a floor. It is traditionally created by female members of a Hindu family in front of their homes. Widely practiced by Hindus in South India, it is a humble and yet very sacred art of India practiced daily as a ceremonial offering. A Kolam represents a painted prayer, a line drawing composed of curved loops, drawn around a grid pattern of dots. It is thought to bestow prosperity on homes. Ideally a new Kolam is created at dawn every day in a ceremonial gesture of beauty, sacrifice and gratitude. During holidays and festivals, like Deepavali, the Kolam designs become gloriously inspired. We saw this superb example in our local shopping mall.
