Deepavali Telugu style

This year, Deepavali which falls on 17/10/2009 is on the last day of Lord Sree Venkateswara festival month. As to the records, this is a very rare co-incident and which has happened after 240 years.

For the Telugu Hindus, Deepavali or the Festival of Light is also another important celebration after Ugadi (Telugu New Year) and Sakranthri.

Deepavali, which is traditionally an occasion Indian communities to celebrate the victory of good over evil, is however observed a bit differently by the Telugus from the south..

While most Hindus take oil baths and offer prayers to deceased family members on Deepavali, but the Telugus does it during Sakranthri in January.

A day before Sakranthri is known as Boghi. And on Boghi day, Telugus will usually apply a mixture of tumeric powder, green bean paste and sesame oil on our bodies to symbolically remove impurities before gathering with other family members around a campfire. This is usually done in the early morning on the Boghi day.

On the Deepavali festival day after the morning baths, Telugus too will wear new clothes. As for the women, their sarees are usually tied in a kuddupaita style, where the pallu or the decorative end of the saree is draped over the right shoulder rather than the left shoulder as most of Telugus of Malaysia follow Vishakapatam suroundings of Andhra Pradesh Telugus does. On Deepavali day vegetarian food is observed.