I think I have just encountered my favorite holiday so far (not having been here for Holi), the Diwali festival has just come and gone and I had an amazing and exciting time! As many people have said before, Diwali is, to the outsider, like Christmas and the Fourth of July combined! People started lighting off fireworks weeks ahead of time—to me, it sounded like gunshots and explosions and reminded me a bit of being in Israel. There were several different pujas that occurred in my house at different times, and I am sorry to say that I am unsure of the meaning of them. I just know that the priest was there day in and out and the chanting and bell ringing (as well as drum banging and yodeling from across the street) started even earlier than usual.
My host-father, who I had not yet met, came home. There was a lot of visiting around, gift giving and general excitement. It seems to be a big holiday for sweets and I, being very partial to the milk sweets, must have gained ten pounds from eating bucketloads. We had guests every night, or went visiting ourselves, and I got to wear some of the fancy clothes and jewelry that I had been hoarding. The night of Diwali we sat around playing cards in our party clothes while the boys in our house set off fireworks on the roof and generally got into mischief. I woke up hung-over for three days in a row (I am not usually given to drinking) and all in all it was quite a party
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