British Columbians gear up for annual Diwali celebration

British Columbia’s sizeable South Asian Canadian population is gearing up to celebrate by sharing good food and lighting lamps ahead of the annual Diwali celebration.

Diwali — also known as Deepavali — is the annual festival of lights, which is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains across the world.

Although it is set to start on Nov. 1, according to the Hindu calendar, the five-day-long festival often has weeks of lead-up and occupies many weeks for those celebrating.

While the traditional significance of the festival varies by culture — for instance, Hindus celebrate Diwali as the return of the deity Rama after years of exile — they all share the common theme of good triumphing over evil.

WATCH | Metro Vancouverites gear up for Diwali: 

Preparations are in full swing for Diwali celebrations. And this year, they just happen to coincide with Halloween. It’s a festival known for lights, colour and food and is celebrated by millions worldwide. Our Sohrab Sandhu hit the street in Surrey to see what’s on people’s shopping lists this year.

Most who observe the festival share sweets and delicacies with each other, wear new clothes as they celebrate with family, and light up lamps, candles and fireworks.

In Metro Vancouver, sweet shops and South Asian supermarkets were full of people loading up for the holiday on Tuesday.

One of them, Ravi Dhot, travelled to the region all the way from Nelson, B.C., to see his parents for the first time in six years.

“Our parents just came from India. Actually, we just came; we went to the airport just to pick them up,” he told CBC News at a supermarket in Surrey, B.C.

“They could have landed in Castlegar. But we thought we need to bring all these things. Why not make it a trip, right?”

Nelson — about 420 kilometres east of Vancouver — doesn’t have any Indian sweet shops, according to Dhot, who said his wife asked him to buy a range of items.

“She can’t travel. She’s seven months pregnant in Nelson,” he said, smiling. “Yes, she’s waiting … I think she’s got a lot of cravings for this kind of food right now.

“It’s going to last me like 15 days for me and my wife, so yeah, that’s going to be one of the special trips for me,” he said.

WATCH | The significance of ghee during Diwali: 

Shiva Reddy, On The Coast’s food and wine columnist, speaks about how ghee — South Asian clarified butter — is used in traditional celebrations and food, as well as how you can use it in your cooking at home.

Dhot said he was looking to buy diyas, small clay lamps that are traditionally lit with South Asian clarified butter called ghee.

Shiva Reddy, a sommelier with the Michelin-starred Burdock & Co restaurant in Vancouver, said that ghee is often traditionally used in many religious rituals — as well as many of the traditional sweets that are bought around Diwali.

“You’ll see it in so many of the beautiful traditional foods that we have, as well as the candies that you’ll see,” Reddy told Amy Bell, the guest host of CBC’s On The Coast. “I grew up with it. It was a very fundamental part of my mom’s cooking and festivities as well.”

Deepak Aggarwal, the manager of Surrey-based Aggarwal Sweets, said that Diwali was the busiest time of year for his establishment.

Most of his customers buy delicacies like the gulab jamun, kaju barfi, and milk cake — but Aggarwal said that he was also seeing people buying dry nuts like cashews and almonds.

“People consider nuts healthier and more nutritious, so they’re buying sweets also plus nuts, so they can distribute to some other communities who don’t eat sweets or they don’t know much about it,” he said.