Tattva

This past week, most of us celebrated Diwali, either on the 28th or the 29th, in one fashion or another, from poojas to parties and everything else in between. However, in America, there are many people around us who are unaware of this important festival. This ignorance is nowhere more apparent than at schools.

In most schools, major religious and cultural festivals are recognized. In some districts, schools close entirely on Jewish holidays such as Yom Kippur. Meanwhile, others allow students to take the day off to celebrate their festival. In the Boston Public School (BPS) system, where I go to school, students who take a day off on a recognized religious holiday are marked as present; the calendar of “recognized” holidays includes Ramadan, Yom Kippur, and Chinese New Year. My school extended this policy by requiring teachers not to give tests or quizzes on these noted days.

Much to my disappointment, up until this year, the BPS had not listed Diwali as a major religious holiday. And I’m sure this is the case in many other school districts across the nation, even those which Hindu students attend. However, instead of just accepting the fact that it wasn’t listed as a major religious holiday, I decided to take action. Informed by my school that I would need to talk to the BPS about the matter, I called the superintendent’s office, and left a message about my question.

Luckily, there was a fellow Hindu named Anand Vaishnav who works in the Superintendent’s Office. The issue was given to him and he was the one who returned my call, clarifying that BPS students can take religious holidays off regardless whether or not they are on the calendar, so long as a parental note is given to the school. However, I asked him if there was a possibility to put Diwali on the calendar along with the other significant holidays, and he agreed to find out how to do so.

I maintained a correspondence with Mr. Vaishnav for a week via e-mail, and finally he informed me that Diwali was now on the list of notable religious holidays for the city of Boston. By that time, Diwali was around the corner, so I prepared to take the day off from school for the first time in my life in observance of one of my religion’s festivals.

It’s important to note that in many cities across the country, Diwali is not recognized mainly due to ignorance. And this is a problem that can be readily addressed, by calling the superintendent’s office in your school or college, or by taking to your principal or other important figure. The process is not as arduous as one may think; I only had to spend a couple of hours within the span of a week to get it recognized in my school. Hopefully, this inspires others to take action and get Diwali recognized as a religious holiday in other places. If you need ideas on what to write or say, I’ve written a letter to my school, informing them about what Diwali is. And to all the readers of Tattva: Happy Diwali!

Sanchay Jain is in eleventh grade at Boston Latin School. You can contact him at jetblackskj@yahoo.com

 
This is the letter I wrote to my school explaining what Diwali is. Please feel free to use it for ideas.

To the Registrar’s Office at Boston Latin School:

This is to inform you that my son, Sanchay Jain, will be unable to attend school on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008, due to his observance of the festival Diwali. Diwali is a festival celebrated by the Hindu community as a “Festival of Lights.” It is a symbol for the victory of good over evil; a belief shared by civilizations throughout the world. Certain significant events are associated with this day, most notably the return of Rama—the incarnation of the Hindu God Vishnu—to his kingdom of Ayodhya upon vanquishing the demon Ravana. Representing this triumph of good over evil—or the revelation of the inner soul in all of us—is Light, through the form of firecrackers or lighted clay lamps known as dias. In a cultural aspect, Diwali marks the end of growing crops, and as such, farmers celebrate this festival to show their gratitude for their luck, while businesses also suspend their accounts for the year—in effect becoming an economic ‘new year.’ It also has importance for adherents of Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism.

Diwali is celebrated primarily in India, but has become a prominent festival in countries throughout the world, including London, where some of the largest gatherings are held outside India, Trinidad and Tobago, where communities across the nation come together to celebrate in an harmonious manner filled with prayer, and New Zealand, where it an official reception has taken place in Parliament since 2003. Even in the United States, with the immigration of Indian people to this country, Diwali is starting to gain recognition, and the President has lighted a lamp on this day to mark the festival.

Diwali happens to be celebrated for six days; each day representing a different aspect and story. Similar to Chinese New Year, the dates of Diwali are dictated by the Hindu Lunar calendar, and thus fluctuate on the Gregorian calendar. This year, the main Diwali date falls on October 28th.

As a result, I would kindly request you mark my son as “Constructively Present” (CP) for the 28th, as he will be celebrating Diwali.
Sincerely,
Sadhana Jain

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This entry was posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 at 5:39 am and is filed under Festivals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.