The festival of lights returned to North Hempstead for the third year in a row as town officials brought Diwali celebrations to New Hyde Park’s Clinton G. Martin Park last week.
“These cultural celebrations are a wonderful way for our children to preserve their heritage and be proud of their traditions and their culture,” North Hempstead Supervisor Jen DeSena said. “We are very blessed in the town of North Hempstead to have residents who come from around the world. We learn from each other.”
Diwali is an Indian, Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist religious and cultural celebration that takes place in October or November and centers on hope, renewal and the triumph of light over darkness.
The Oct. 29 event involved cultural performances, Indian food, music and clothing. North Hempstead Clerk Ragini Srivastava, who is Indian American, said the town began holding the event in 2022 and emphasized the importance of the town holding Diwali celebrations as it allows people to celebrate with their community and learn from one another.
“We are a very diverse community, and that’s the beauty of our town. Our objective is to celebrate our diversity,” Srivastava said. “People from different cultures join the event, and they get to know each other better, and they celebrate each other’s festivals. That strengthens our bonding as a community.”
“As the town clerk of North Hempstead…my objective is to reach out to the people, to connect to them, to build those bridges, so we can know our community,” Srivastava continued. “This gives an opportunity to the whole community to come together and celebrate. This brings so much positivity and happiness and togetherness for the whole community. It needs to be celebrated.”
The positivity was clear, Srivastava said, as people tried on traditional clothing, ate samosas and listened to kids play tabla (Indian drums) and veena (an Indian string instrument).
“It’s all about the cultural celebration part of it,” she said. “The whole community was very happy. They were dancing, they were eating. People were dressed up in traditional outfits.”
DeSena said she saw “two wonderful things happening” as people filled Clinton G. Martin Park on Wednesday night.
“One is that you have families who are keeping their traditions going, who are passing them from one generation to the next, and they are proud of their heritage,” DeSena said. It’s a great sense of pride for children, and it’s connecting them…and keeping that culture alive.”
“Another thing is that we learn from each other, which is beautiful. We’re neighbors who came from different parts of the world, and we’re able to share and see that there are always similarities,” DeSena continued. “Celebrating Diwali is wonderful for our Indian residents, and it’s also wonderful for the whole town, for all of our residents, because we’re all learning more.”
Next year Diwali is set to take place on Nov. 8 when the town plans to celebrate.
