Here are memories of Deepavali from Laxmi, who now lives in Texas.

I grew up in Palghat, in the state of Kerala, which is in the southern tip of India. Here are my memories of Deepavali:

My grandmother, mom and aunts will get busy a few weeks ahead of Deepavali. They have to shop for clothes for everyone in the family, relatives, maids, the gardener, the mailman, the milkman etc. Then they will start making special sweets and savories for Deepavali.

We, the kids, will start buying firecrakers. Since it rains so much in Kerala, they will get damp easliy and won't light up. So everyday we will spread our wares in the sun after school and literally sit in the sun to guard our collection and also to drag them inside in case it starts pouring again. I used to test them almost everyday to see whether they light up and of course that meant going back to the store again to get some more.

On the day of Diwali, we will wake up at 4am. I always took pride in waking up the street with the first fireworks. This is not for the weak-hearted. Firecrackers would fly from houses on both sides of the streets.People wearing their brand new silk clothes, skirts and sarees will be walking by to visit the temple dodging the stream of crackers coming from all sides.

Every Diwali my grandmother used to get mad at me for burning holes in my new silk skirt. I loved bursting those things so much. We used to make fun of one my cousin who was so scared of fireworks that she will refuse to get out of the house.

We all take an oil bath first thing that morning. My grandmother will apply oil for everyone. We believe that river ganga (ganges) is present in all waters that day. So it is the equivalent of taking bath in the sacred river Ganges.

All the new clothes will be arranged nicely in front of the deities in the puja room (Kind of altar at home).

There will be huge lamps lit, lots of flowers and good food. These are all offerings to the God. We all will say our prayers to Goddess Laxmi and Vishnu and pay our respect to all elders. Then my grandmother will hand out the new clothes.

We will be in such a hurry to get this over with so we could go outside and have more fun.

Then we would go to the temple with our cousin who will usually cry all the way. After prayers, we eat an elaborate breakfast.

In the evening, we will light clay lamps and decorate the house with lamps. Another important tradition is Rangoli. We used to draw elaborate patterns in the puja room and in the front porch.

Those were nice times.