Happy Deepavali and Halloween to those who celebrate
Exploring the common origins of the two festivals
I have developed a theory that Deepavali and Halloween share a common origin. It is my privilege to share this revelation with the world at large.
All the stories that we associate with Deepavali involve the Vaishnava pantheon - Krishna/Satyabhama slaying Narakasura on Chaturdashi, Rama returning to Ayodhya and Lakshmi Pooja on the day of Deepavali. The next day is Bali Pratipada associated with Vamana, and Govardhan Pooja, again associated with Krishna. Bhratr Dviteeya too involves Krishna and Subhadra.
The Vaishnava tradition is the New Testament of Hinduism in the sense that it replaced the older Vedic tradition. Unlike the Christian New Testament where God makes a new compact with mankind suggesting a break from the old, Vaishnavism claims continuity with the Vedas, but reinterprets them and inserts Vishnu or his incarnations as central characters in Vedic stories.
I believe that something similar may have happened with Deepavali. To understand what, let us turn to the eastern part of India. In the Nepali speaking regions, the festival is known as Tihar (i.e. त्योहार) and is dedicated to propitiating various agents of Yama. On Triyodashi, the crow is worshipped and Naraka Chaturdashi is celebrated as Kukur Tihar, where dogs, who guard the gates to hell, are worshipped in a most adorable manner. The story of Naraka Chaturdashi in these regions is different - it involves actual Naraka, not the demon Narakasura. The origin story of Bhai dooj in these regions also involves Yama - apparently, Yamuna begs him to spare her brother’s life when he comes visiting.
In Bengal and Mithilanchal, where the Shakta tradition predominates, the festival is celebrated as Kali Pooja, a more terrifying goddess than Lakshmi; and the previous day as Bhoot Chaturdashi.
In North India, apparently, there is a tradition of lighting a lamp called “Yam ka Diya”. Bursting of firecrackers comes from a tradition of lighting fires in the sky to guide souls back to heaven after their sojourn on earth.
Surely, all of these are clues that before Deepavali became Deepavali due to the influence of Vaishnavism, it was a much “darker” festival centred on death, departed souls and ghosts? The fact that Lakshmi Pooja happens in the evening and that too on an Amavasya night is instructive.
Now coming to Halloween. To the extent that its origins have been determined, we know that it was a Pagan festival. Specifically, it was a Celtic harvest celebration where the tradition was to light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts. This again was appropriated by Christianity and turned into an all-saints festival before it took on its current form as a children’s festival involving hounding adults for treats.1
The Celtic festival must have come from somewhere. Couldn’t it have come from the same festival that is the origin of Deepavali as well? The coincidences are so strong that we must treat speculation as fact and pronounce it to be true, and act as if it were, going forward. Let us use the same economic might that enabled us to take over cricket to appropriate Halloween as well. Firstly, let us change the date of the festival from one determined by the Christian calendar to Naraka Chaturdashi. Secondly, there is no dearth of demons from Hindu stories that our children can dress up as. Finally, as to children going from house to house extorting treats, we do not even need a western example to follow. We can adopt the practice of our Nepali cousins, who have the same tradition. Let us make it happen!
This year, my wife took to answering “Trick or Treat?” with “Trick” and when the unprepared and unsuspecting brats failed to perform any trick, taking away a chocolate instead of giving it to them.