On Oct. 18 along the White Rock waterfront pier, members from the Sanatan Cultural Society of British Columbia will host the city’s first annual Diwali by the Sea, a festival of light and culture. Story, music and dance performances from individuals from a wide array of cultural backgrounds will be on hand to celebrate the triumph of light over darkness and good over evil.
Diwali by the Sea will be the latest cultural festival to grace White Rock, following the successes of the Irish Heritage Month in March and the Moon Festival in September. The presence of these festivals is a reflection of the growing cultural diversity among the city’s newcomer population.
“It’s very exciting for us as we’ve never had a Diwali festival here before,” says Helen Fathers, a White Rock city councilor. “Our demographics and cultural diversity are definitely changing. We have a lot of [people from] different cultural groups residing in our community.”
From left to right: Aditya Mohan, Simmi Vasistha and Vivek Vasistha, three of the Diwali by the Sea organizers | Photo by Simon Yee
Fathers says hosting the Diwali festival in White Rock’s October and November shoulder season was the perfect complement to the city’s year-round festivities. When organizers approached city council with the concept, council jumped on the idea and unanimously supported the festival.
“When we decided to hold this program, the idea was to introduce a festival part of our culture to the community. There was no better place than White Rock as it was starting to embrace cultural events,” says Aditya Mohan, one of the Diwali organizers.
One dream. One heart. One word.
Diwali is one of the oldest festivals in the world, originating on the Indian subcontinent and is celebrated in many different ways. Jainists commemorate Diwali in honour of Lord Mahavira’s attainment of moksha: the freedom of his soul from the cycle of birth and death. Buddhists observe Diwali as the date Mauryan Emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism.
According to the Hindu epic Ramayana, Diwali celebrates the story of Lord Rama’s defeating of the demon-king Ravana and return from fourteen years of exile. To celebrate his, his wife Sita and his brother Lakshman’s return, people of his hometown Ayodhya lit oil lamps, distributed sweets and set off fireworks.
Basing off the Hindu celebration, Mohan, Vivek and Simmi Vasistha (three of the many organizers of Diwali by the Sea) wanted to bring this festival to White Rock and add their own twist to the festivities.
Diwali will light up White Rock Pier this month | Photo by Seranya Photography
“Our slogan, for our version of the festival, is: ‘One Dream. One Heart. One Word,’” says Vivek Vasistha.
“The dream is to be truly multicultural. In Canada we talk a lot about multiculturalism, but it’s really only focusing on a single culture,” says Vasistha. “For example, Chinese celebrate Chinese festivals, Indians celebrate Indian festivals, Germans celebrate German festivals and so on.
“But simply living together isn’t multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is about integrating and celebrating each other’s cultures.”
To that end, Diwali by the Sea will host stage performances from people of many different backgrounds – be it Chinese, Filipino, Polynesian, Native American communities among others. They hope this festival will help others, especially the younger generations, to understand different cultures.
“We want to create a legacy so that this festival is done every year with more zeal, enthusiasm and motivation with each passing year,” says Mohan. “Let’s celebrate it together.”
