Diwali – Celebrating the Festival of Lights

Third grader teacher Vicki Shelter writes, “Shrinidhi Venkatakrishnan and Geet Sandhu taught second and third graders about Diwali and what the holiday means to them. Shrinidhi is Hindu and Geet is a Sikh, and they explained that Diwali means light over darkness. They shared their religious stories and how they celebrate Diwali. They set up tables in the Lower School lobby filled with artifacts such as clothing, food, diyas, spices, bracelets and more, and arranged tables so that they could each teach a lesson to their classmates. At one table, students colored in a premade rangoli that Shrinidhi and Geet designed. At the other table, the lesson was how to create a rangoli with different colored sands which were in shakers. After the activities were over, Geet and Shrinidhi gave each student a diya, which is a candle that symbolizes goodness, purity, and light, and a bindi for them to wear on their forehead. The girls did a fabulous job teaching and the second and third graders loved their lessons!”

In the Upper School, a Diwali Community Dinner was hosted by the South Asian Affinity (SAA) Group with a special menu of delicious Indian foods. After the meal, students retired to the East End Student Lounge where the SAA offered engaging community sharing about the Festival of Lights and an outside celebration with sparklers! Enjoy the full gallery here.