Saturday, December 06, 2014

Karthigai Deepam @ Home and Neighborhood

Karthigai Deepam @ Home
Karthikai Deepam is a South Indian festival observed by Hindus on the full moon day of Tamil month Karthikai, which falls amid November and December. It is an occasion where rows of oil lamps are lit in every home and temples. Karthigai Deepam is essentially a festival of lamps and lighted lamps are considered as auspicious symbols and believed to drive off evil forces and let in prosperity and joy.

A neighbour's house adorn in lamps
Though generally lighted lamps are important in festivals and rituals of Hindus, Karthigai Deepam is indispensable. We hold the festival of lamps yesterday at home and lit some limited oil lamps at the entrance and windowsills. A few of our neighbors had some splendid arrangements of lamps around their compound walls and stairs across our house-made feels good to the eyes and mind.

Row of lamps
The construction office opposite our side entrance did wonderfully by lighting rows of lamps on their wooden stair and someone stood there to make sure all lamps kept burning. Our oil lamps couldn’t light long due to the wind but to my surprise, the lamps lit on the compound wall of our neighbors keep lighted. Only later mom said those are candle lamps. So what? I can’t understand the logic here.

Karthigai Deepam at neighburhood
Usually, mom used to light the lamps once Thiruvannamalai Deepam (a huge fire lamp, which is called Mahadeepam) was lit up on the hill, following a live relay on TV. Tiruvannamalai Karthigai festival is well-known, and millions of people go to the temple town to watch the Maha Deepam lit up on the hill.

15 comments:

Ramakrishnan said...

Beautiful illumination !

TexWisGirl said...

what a beautiful tradition!

Pooja Mittal said...

we in north india do not have this tradition but i wish we had
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Ankita said...

i just love diyas! for me, they are the ultimate symbol of hope and contentment :)

Nice post!

Destination Infinity said...

Nice arrangement of the deepams on the steps. Your camera takes good photos even in the nights.

Destination Infinity

Uppal said...

lighting oil lamps is an essential part of so many traditional festivals in India! lovely pictures!

Sandhya said...

Beautiful photographs, Jeevan!

This is our 'festival of lights'!

We too light lamps after we see Thiruvannaamalai deepam. Do Pori urundai and appam too!

Renu said...

I like this tradition..in north this is called depawali for gods..

Anonymous said...

What a pretty dam!

Namrata said...

Aha..I saw some people lightning up diya in their veranda.. I was puzzled and a friend of mine told me it's some karthikai deepam. Then if I am not wrong then you get to celebrate two diwalis. Right?? Lovely. I always love house lit up with diyas. :)

Twilight Man said...

I always love the Hindu festivals which is meaningful always.
Last weekend, I took 2 Americans to visit our famous Batu Caves Temple in Kuala Lumpur and they love the whole place.
You might be interested to know about this place, just google image the word "Batu Caves Temple".

Jeevan said...

Namrata - People usually don’t light diyas for diwali here and it’s the tradition of north India that spread everywhere, I think. But in Tamil Nadu only for Karthigai deepam they light diyas and some even follow it though out the month of Karthigai

Meoww said...

The lamps look gorgeous at your home. I made lamps made out of oranges this time for Thirukarthikai.

meenu said...

Karthigai Deepam is also called as festival of lights.On this day large number of blazing lamps offers a captivating manifestation during the light.The month of karthigai special importance of divine light of lord shiva.Know More About Karthigai Deepam Click Here

Lopez Mathew said...

Thanks for writing this blog How is Karthigai Deepam celebrated