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Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights. Diwali is celebrated each year between October and November, but the exact date varies each year as the Hindu calendar is based on the Moon. This year Diwali is on Friday 1st November 2024. Find out how Jessica and her family celebrate Diwali together.

The word Diwali means 'row of lights'. Jessica is making candles with her family to decorate the inside of the house, they also decorate the outside of the house with colourful Rangoli patterns on the floor to bring good luck.

Next Jessica helps her mum to make Indian crackers ready for Diwali, then they go shopping for sweet treats for their guests. The final preparation of the day is for Jessica to have mehndi drawn on her hands in lovely patterns.

Jessica is dressed in her traditional Indian clothes, all of the diva candles have been lit and mum is busy cooking. The guests arrive and Jessica is excited to show them her Diwali decorations.

The temple is decorated with beautiful lights for Diwali, there are statues of the Gods where people pray and leave money as an offering. Back at home Jessica's family have their own temple, they pray to the Gods before they eat together.

There's a big Diwali celebration in the town and Jessica and her family wrap up warm and go and watch the fantastic fireworks.

You can make your own firework picture like Ben from CBeebies House.

There was once a prince called Rama and his wife Sita, there was also a wicked King Ravanna who was a great and powerful demon, he had ten heads and twenty arms and took Sita away from Rama where she couldn't be found.

Rama set off in search of Sita, on the way he was helped by all the animals in the forest. A monkey called Hanuman became Rama's friend, Hanuman was no ordinary monkey, he could fly over mountains and across oceans. After searching for many days and nights, Hanuman finally found Sita imprisoned in one of Ravanna's beautiful gardens. Rama fought Ravanna to get his wife back. The battle went on for days until finally Rama used a special arrow, given to him by the Gods, and shot Ravanna in the chest.

Rama and Sita were together again and they decided to return home. By the time they got back it was the middle of the night, but the entire kingdom celebrated their return by decorating the city with flowers and lamps to show them the way home.

JoJo and Gran Gran learn about the festival of Diwali when Raya and Nirada invite them to celebrate Diwali. 

°Õ±ð²õ³ÙÌýhow much you know about Diwali in this quiz from My First Festival. 

Find more teaching resources on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Bitesize - What is Diwali?