Odia Ritual on Diwali !!

 The place I come from has its unique way of celebrating Diwali. This is dedicated to our ancestors. We born a special type of dry grass known as Kauria in Odia, show it to the sky and sing a song letting our forefathers know that they are being remembered. The song and it's meaning is as below,

Bada badua ho,

Aandhaarare aasa,

Aalua re ja,

Baaishi paahachare,

Gada gadau tha,

"O! Forefathers come to us in this dark evenings. 

We light your way to heaven.

May you attain salvation on the 22 steps of Jagannath temple. "

This has to be done by the eldest son. Since, my grandfather had died before my birth, my father used to do this every year on Diwali. Now, it's turn of my brother to follow this tradition. Although he is Aethist by belief he still does this for the shake of others. Although we Odia's are non-vegetarian and Bhramin's in our place also eat Non-veg, we do not eat Non-veg on Diwali. It is a remembrance day of forefathers so we don't eat non-veg. Very peculiar is not it? 

Here, in Telangana the practice is quite different. My house help says, on Diwali they offer goats to Goddess Durga. We worship Kali but they worship Durga(quiet surprising for me). I see very rare Kali maa temples here. Mostly Kanak Durga temples are present almost everywhere. Anyway, all the gods and goddesses finaly merge into the one and only God. And they cook non-veg in Diwali. However, Bhramin's and traders(Banik) do not even touch non-veg.