George Eastman House Celebrates Diwali

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Diwali is India's 🇮🇳 biggest and most important holiday. Traditionally, it is a festival celebrated by the Hindu faith symbolizing good over evil. Today, this festival is celebrated by Indians regardless of faith (similar to Christmas in America).

Our family doesn't look at Diwali as a religious holiday, but rather a time to reflect and celebrate our culture. We try to clean our home, wear nice clothes and eat Indian food with extended family and friends.

Happy Diwali!

Holi is quite possibly the second most popular holiday in India - next to Diwali. 

It celebrates the beginning of Spring🌷 and the victory of good over evil. 

Holi is celebrated on the last full-moon day of the lunar calendar. You will see people throwing bright colors 🎨 on one another in joy. 

Bonfires are sometimes lit on the evening before Holi with the belief that the fire will destroy the bad - and of course, good can triumph.

Happy Holi!

We raise our boys to value both American and Indian cultures. While they are the second generation born in America, they look and feel Indian. We are proud that they can understand our native tongue 100%, and continue to grow confidence day by day in speaking Gujarati. 

They really haven’t heard the Indian National Anthem before, but they’ve become somewhat accomplished in playing the violin. We were enjoying some family time this evening, and the Olympics are going on. The boys performed a beautiful rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner for us, and then wanted to try and play the equivalent of India – Jana Gana Mana. 

This is a very raw performance. They never heard the Indian National Anthem before – so they didn’t hear the words, rhythm or the beats before. This was literally the first time they attempted to play with sight reading – with dadi singing next to the boys for support. It turned out to be a beautiful performance. 

Great job boys!

The boys open up the evening with a beautiful rendition of the Indian National Anthem - Jana Gana Mana 🇮🇳

Sara Jahan Se Accha is a patriotic song in the Urdu language by the poet Muhammad Iqbal, first published in 1904. The song is an ode to Hindustan, then composed of present day Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, and embodies a yearning for, and attachment to, the homeland. The song aspires to the concept of pluralism, and to a harmonious Hindu-Muslim culturally composite society.