Deepavali (or is it Diwali) celebrations?

Last weekend the major Hindu festival of Divali or Deepavali as it's called in Singapore was celebrated. Deepavali means "row of lights"and marks the beginning of the Hindu New Year.  During this 4 day festival Hindus pray to Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth, light, prosperity and wisdom and also to Ganesha, the remover of obstacles and Lord of the Beginnings.

In the weeks running up to Deepavali Little India is a great place to visit as the streets are brightly decorated and special Deepavali markets set up. It is also packed with people! 

Papa T and I had been invited to a friend's Deepavali party, the invite requested "Indian dress". What to wear? I was nervous of being able to 'carry-off' wearing a sari so when another friend offered to lend me a gorgeous "kurti" I gratefully accepted. She advised that I would need to accessorise with plenty of bling so I headed to Little India to shop and have a look around

I love visiting this neighbourhood as there is always something to see

 Little India is always very colourful but with the extra decorations at this time of year it was looking stunning

 I joined the throng of people inside one of the Deepavali markets. During the festival doorways are hung with torans of mango leaves and marigolds. 

Traditionally coloured rice was carefully laid in patterns to form large floor motifs at the entrance to homes to welcome guests. These rangoli are now usually made from plastic or acrylic and smaller designs are available for decorating tables 

I noticed several ladies sitting on stools painting henna patterns on ladies hands and arms, they created the most intricate patterns in only a few minutes. 

There was plenty of 'bling

 available, with huge arrays of bright coloured bangles for sale

I bought some bangles and earrings and as I was about to leave suddenly decided "in for a penny in for a pound" and said yes to the next lady who offered to decorate my hand with henna. She advised me to not wash my hand for several hours to allow the colour to deepen and assured me that the tattoo would fade in 'a 1-3 weeks'

Here we are all dressed up ready for the party

Our host was dressed in a dhoti and the other guests all looked fabulous in their dhoti's, brightly coloured saris and other Indian dress. We were treated to a fabulous Indian meal where the caterers had brought among a mobile tandoor oven, sadly I was too busy enjoying the food to remember to take any photos other than this brightly coloured agar-agar pudding

 our host is an artist and his home was decorated with a wonderful collection of mainly modern art pieces, including a bright blue life sized crocodile and in the garden a yellow chick waiting to board a pink cable car!

It's now 4 days since I had my hand hennaed and the design and colour are still bright, I've enjoyed the experience but am starting to hope it will fade fairly soon!