Source: www.independent.co.uk
LONDON, ENGLAND, October 18, 2009: “I’ve been out of bed between 3:30 and five o’clock every morning for the last 10 days to make all the food,” says Ansuya Lakhani. “This is what Diwali is about; making the food your children love.”
Diwali has become integral to Anglo-Asian culture, including business owners and their families who gather in temples, halls and houses across the country to conduct the ancient ceremony. New accounts books (and laptops) are opened and blessed for the start of the New Year while praying to the goddess of wealth, Lakshmi, to bring prosperity.
This is one of the ceremonies that intrigues an increasing number of people from different backgrounds and religions, according to the Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden, north London, where tens of thousands of visitors — around 20 per cent of them non-Hindu — come to sample hundreds of dishes made in honor of Lord Krishna.
Leicester, where almost half of the city’s population is of South Asian origin, hosts the biggest street party outside India, with crowds of 50,000 people expected to gather over the weekend for food and fireworks. The Diwali/Christmas lights were switched on two weeks ago and will be kept on until the beginning of January.