Divali (Diwali) in Trinidad - Festival of Lights Livin' the Dream

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Livin' the Dream
Did you know that approximately 20% of Trinidadians are Hindu?  With such a large population, it's no wonder that Divali is such a big celebration here!

Beautiful street paintings - Shubh Divali

Divali is the festival of light and symbolizes the victory of light over dark, good over evil.  Here in Trinidad it is recognized as an official holiday.

The actual day coincides with the moon's phases as it is always on the new moon so it changes each year, and isn't even set until quite close to the date.  We found this out the hard way when the school calendar showed it as a long weekend but then the holiday Monday was taken away (we've been kicking ourselves ever since that we weren't proactive and pre-booked a long weekend getaway!) as the Saturday was decided to be Divali.

For the week or so leading up to Divali the Nagar site in Chaguanas hosts a huge exhibition.  The grounds were full of vendors, food trucks, businesses and a main stage with scheduled traditional performances.  It was quite the event!

The entrance at the Divali Nagar site, Chaguanas

On the night of Divali we decided to head to a small town in central Trinidad called Felicity.  This is where everyone recommends heading to see the lights and we weren't disappointed.  Almost every house puts out hundreds of deyas (little clay pots filled with oil and lit) all over their driveway, garden and walls.  Some create elaborate bamboo structures to hold them.  Many of the streets would get together and buy lighted arches to decorate the length of their block.  The pictures don't do it justice as, of course, it was dark but it was beautiful.  One block really went all out closing the street to traffic, lights everywhere, incredible paintings along the road and a stage set up for a performance later in the evening!

Deyas lit along the roadside

As we walked the streets in the dark (a rare privilege in itself here as we are constantly told not to walk anywhere after dark) people would chat with us from their driveways.  A number of people would flag us down to give us little bags full of Indian sweets!  Some we found to be tastier than others but what a lovely gesture.  Kerma was a favourite - kind of like sweet, sugar coated pretzels.  Barfi is hit or miss depending on the recipe used - it looks like fudge but not nearly as sweet.  For the life of me I couldn't remember the names of the others.

Indian Sweets

We are hoping that next year we will get a long weekend out of this celebration and will have the opportunity to travel so it was great to have the opportunity to see the cultural side this year!