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19 March 2024

Indians celebrate Festival of Lights

Firecrackers light up the sky as people celebrate Diwali festival in Mumbai, India. (AP)

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Indian schoolchildren dressed as Hindu deities pose with placards to raise awareness on the wasteful and polluting use of fireworks ahead of Diwali in Amritsar on October 21, 2014. Fireworks and crackers are in heavy demand across India as the Festival of Diwali approaches. (AFP)

 

An Indian widow holds a lit earthen lamp on the banks of the Yamuna river during a celebration for the Hindu festival Diwali in the northern city of Vrindavan. The women, who chanted as they walked through the streets of Vrindavan to mark the Hindu festival of Diwali, are widows who have left or been abandoned by their families. Until recently, they were kept hidden from society and all but forbidden to celebrate. But that is now changing, and local residents cheered the women on as they passed through the streets of the temple-filled town, many proudly wearing brand new saris gifted by a local organisation. (AFP)
 

Indians buy lanterns and lamps from roadside stalls ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights in Mumbai, India, Monday, Oct. 20, 2014. Diwali will be celebrated is most parts of India on Oct. 23.(AP)
 

 

A Malaysian ethnic Indian woman shops for earrings for the upcoming Diwali, or the Hindu festival of lights in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (AP)
 

An artist applies henna on the hand of a Malaysian ethnic Indian girl for the upcoming Diwali, or the festival of lights in Klang, outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Monda. (AP)
 

A Border Security Force (BSF) soldier lights sparklers on the eve of Diwali, near the border with Bangladesh on the outskirts of Agartala, capital of India's northeastern state of Tripura. The festival will be celebrated across the country on Thursday. (REUTERS)
 

People light lamps and arrange them into a formation on the eve of Diwali in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh. Earthen lamps were lit during a public ceremony for world peace in the city on Wednesday, organisers said. Lamps are traditionally used during Diwali, the annual festival of lights, to decorate homes. The festival is celebrated across the country on Thursday. (REUTERS)
 

Widows, who have been abandoned by their families, light sparklers after offering prayers on the banks of the river Yamuna as part of Diwali celebrations organised by non-governmental organisation Sulabh International in Vrindavan, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Hundreds of the widows who live in various ashrams run by the Sulabh International participated in the celebrations for the first time this year, according to the organisers. Diwali, the annual festival of lights will be celebrated across the country on October 23. (REUTERS)
 

Customers shop for lanterns at a roadside Diwali market in Mumbai October 20, 2014. Hindus decorate their homes and places of worship with flowers and lights during Diwali, the festival of lights, which will be celebrated across the country on Thursday. (REUTERS)