Ottawa’s Indian-Canadian community will be celebrating hope, prosperity and the triumph of good over evil with the celebration of one of the biggest festivals in India this Saturday.
Diwali, or Deepavali — the Hindu festival of lights — is marked by the lighting of houses and streets and the distribution of Indian sweets, said Satyavrat Kadyan, of the information and culture wing of The High Commission of India in Ottawa.
Diwali is based on a 5,000-year-old epic where an evil spirit had taken Lord Rama’s wife, Sita.
When she was rescued and returned to the capital city, people all over India celebrated by lighting up their houses and streets and distributing sweets among friends, family, neighbours and the poor, Kadyan said.
“This is the greatest celebration or festivity of India, a time of good over evil,” he said.
The Indian-Canadian population in Ottawa numbers about 100,000, Kadyan said.
The public can discover what Diwali is all about at the third annual Hintonburg Diwali celebration Friday. The event begins at 6 p.m. at Somerset Square.
