Diwali, The Festival of Joy, symbolizes the victory of good over evil, light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance, brings immense joy and ecstasy among the people. This Festival of Lights is celebrated to mark the return of Lord Rama to Ayodhya along with Devi Sita, Hanuman and brother Lakshman after 14 years of vanvaas (exile) and their grand victory over Ravana. Since it was new moon day, people decorated their homes and streets with diyas to illuminate the path of Lord Rama. People in Ayodhya made rangolis, wore new clothes, exchanged gifts and sweets, and most importantly performed Lakshmi Pujan in the evening.
But sad part is that , the festival of lights over time got a darker side; burning crackers became the main part of Diwali Celebrations. Firecrackers cause health hazards, which is now a common thing. It causes air pollution, noise pollution which are some of the biggest issues of the present-day world and have innumerable ill-effects on the environment. On the other part honking vehicles are jam-packed on the road people buying Diwali Gifts, using plastic bags food waste increased to exponential levels and scattered across the streets. Rather than goodness prevailing, we are doing harmful things to animals , environment and people.
Hence, all we can do is increase self-awareness and try to have Diwali Celebrations that are environmentally more sustainable. So, this year let us celebrate Green Diwali with lights and diyas. Let us return to our traditional ways to celebrate this beautiful festival. Here are few tips on celebrating Diwali in an eco-friendly manner.
Green Crackers:
Diwali celebration without crackers is a big no no for many, this holds not only for children but also for adults. But we must consider the exorbitant stats of air and noise pollution caused by the firecrackers every year Celebrating Diwali with crackers might be exciting but it causes a lot of distress not only for us but for our little furry friends too. One way to resolve this issue is celebrating Diwali together as a community that way, everyone gets to burst crackers, but fewer crackers. Another way is to get environmentally friendly green crackers that do not harm the environment.
Save Electricity use Traditional Diyas
The electricity used in the fairy lights is wasted a lot instead of this you can use the very traditional way to celebrate the festival and light earthen and cow dunk made beautifully painted with vibrant colours diyas and candles. These are a great replacement to the fancy lights which do more harm than good.
Use Organic Colours for Rangolis: Time to go back to Basics
Rangolis are the one of the most beautiful parts of Diwali celebrations. Colorful pretty designs make our homes look beautiful. In the old days, rangolis were made of natural things like rice, pulses, spices, and flour to feed the birds but now a days, synthetic colours replaced to natural colours . synthetic colours are very dangerous for our environment. Also, if these are inhaled these can cause serious health issues. Opt for natural colours that do not cause harm to our surroundings.
Eco-Friendly Gifts
On Diwali, we express our joy by exchanging sweets and gifts. This Diwali go eco friendly by gifting organic gifts to your love ones. These days there are many options available in the market; you can gift books, hand made fabric apparels,organic teas, spices, coffee, soaps, and creams. Choose eco-friendly gifts and go soft on nature.
Wrapping the gifts
Gifting is an important part of Diwali celebrations. Instead of plastic wrappers use newspapers, colour it or make bags out of it to wrap your gifts or wrap your gifts in your old sarees and dupattas to create a memorable gift.
The Diwali Party
Say no to outside food and sweets they contain artificial colours and loaded with sugars. Instead of that make sweets at home with gram flours, jaggery, coconut sugar etc. Do not serve food in single-use plastic at your dinner party. Celebrate a traditional Diwali and serve your guests in regular crockery- steel, porcelain, or glassware. If you are looking for disposable alternatives, buy plates made of dried leaves.
To sum up the thoughts , its high time to make our world balanced and environment friendly. We need to be more thoughtful to our acts. The idea of a “green world” is rapidly spreading all over the world now and it is our responsibility as well to maintain and sustain a better and safe society for ourselves and our forthcoming generations.
Green Diwali could be the best way to reciprocate this and Happy Diwali Celebrations