10 Nov 2023

Diwali starts today, here's an explainer

From Afternoons, 1:25 pm on 10 November 2023

Today marks the start of the five day Hindu festival Diwali.

Known as the festival of lights it symbolises the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

There are over 100,000 Hindus across Aotearoa. That makes it our second largest religion. But despite that a lot of us don't know much more about it than the fireworks and food.

To give us a low down on what Diwali is all about, and how you can get involved in the celebrations Jesse speaks to his RNZ collegue, journalist Gaurav Sharma.

A dance performance from the 2022 Auckland Diwali Festival.

A dance performance from the 2022 Auckland Diwali Festival. Photo: David Watson