Key Points
- Diwali, the Festival of Lights, is gradually becoming a global celebration.
- The Indian community in Australia has been passing down their cultural heritage to younger generations.
- Many Australians of Indian descent say cultural traditions help foster a sense of continuity and community bonding.
When Melbourne-based journalist Sushi Das moved to Australia two decades ago from the UK, there were hardly any Diwali celebrations in the city.
In her search for the festival, she drove around to find one.
When I initially came to Melbourne, Diwali wasn't celebrated, and the Indian community was virtually non-existent. There were very few people with a brown complexion that I noticed.Sushi Das
Sushi Das (R) with her daughter Lotus (L). Credit: SBS Hindi
"Today, everywhere I go at this time of the year, there's a celebration of some sort going on. Lots of posters in windows, (and) lots of reserves and parks in the suburban areas where they celebrate Diwali," Ms Das said.
Jai Patel, a native of Sydney with Indian roots and Australian heritage spanning two generations, has similar experiences to share.
He recalls a time when his parents would receive packages of lentils from India upon their arrival, as Indian groceries were not as easily accessible back then compared to the present day.
Jai Patel, KPMG Indian Business Practice Head, was born in Sydney. Credit: SBS Gujarati
Diwali is celebrated in the latter part of the year before winter sets in and continues to be a significant event in the calendars of Indian families no matter where they live.
Despite residing abroad for several generations, millions have embraced age-old traditions inherited from their parents, with an aim to establish a meaningful connection with their Indian roots.
A plate decorated with oil lamp, sweet food, and flowers which is used for Diwali celebrations. Credit: Bhupi/Getty Images
I remember we would help our mother and grandmother make traditional Gujarati sweets such as Ghughra, Sattas, and Shrikhand. We would light up our home. We decorated our home.Jai Patel
"As Gujaratis, Diwali also coincides with our new year, our close-knit community ... We dress up in our finest Indian outfits often purchased from our most recent visit to India," he said, adding that there was a real wholesomeness and excitement about the gathering.
Lisa Singh, a former senator born in Australia, now heads the Australia India Institute in Melbourne.
She says she deeply values Diwali traditions within her family, as her Indian father, who migrated from Fiji in 1966 as an international student, instilled these customs as a part of her upbringing.
Lisa Singh, a former senator, was born in Tasmania. Credit: SBS Hindi
"That was a really small and precious way that I was able to celebrate Diwali as a young child. But today, it's something celebrated across Australia," she added.
Ms Singh says she also feels that awareness regarding Diwali has expanded significantly due to the substantial rise in the Indian community in the country since her childhood in the 1980s.
Today, I think the fact that our Indian diaspora is nearly at one million strong really (explains) why so many other people in Australia want to join in and celebrate Diwali, because it also is about that importance of values, of hope, of knowledge, of light, of really recognising that we can come together.Lisa Singh
Cultural traditions do have the power to nurture a sense of continuity and community connection.
And Melbourne-born teenager Lotus Das-Hyland, with her distinctive heritage as the child of a second-generation mother, Sushi Das, and an Australian father, says she firmly believes in this idea.
Diwali, observed worldwide, is one of the most significant festivals in the Hindu calendar. Credit: Deepak Sethi/Getty Images
"I think the first one I remember, I was quite young and we all got dressed up in Indian clothes and we came to Fed Square in Melbourne and there was some music and dancing. I actually remember, I think I ate one too many laddus and got quite sick afterwards, but we all had a great time," she recalled.
However, as she has grown older, she says she has come to appreciate the significance of celebrating Diwali in moulding her sense of identity.
For me, since Mum (Sushi Das) and I are the only Indian family that I have here in Australia, celebrating Diwali is about bringing our culture to the people around us who aren't Indian.Lotus Das-Hyland
"So it's an opportunity for us to celebrate who we are and to share this part of our lives with the people around us."
For now, she says she believes it would be a great idea to have a public holiday for Diwali and if Australia consider itself a multicultural country, it makes sense to celebrate such occasions.
