Let us have Fun! It is Kids’ Diwali at BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir!

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Three-year old Aanshi was clapping and laughing as she watched the futuristic story unfold on the stage at the Kids Diwali Celebrations at BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Flushing on Saturday, November 9, 2024.

BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir has given a new definition to celebration of an Indian festival for the kids born here in the US. “Since this was the first Diwali public school holiday, I had invited students of PS 139 when I went to explain what Diwali is,” told Dr. Vipul Patel to News India Times. Patel is the Flushing Outreach Committee Aministrator.

The day’s celebrations began with the kids’ Diwali puja. The concept has become very popular with kids at BAPS. Following each instruction very seriously, more than 350 kids, ages 3 to 18, performed the entire Lakshmi Puja step by step, from the recitation of the shlokas to the tying of the sacred thread on their own wrists (many tied it to each other), to the arati at the end of the puja.

“They also took part in decorating the assembly hall, and their children’s annakut with help from the volunteers,” Pragna Patel, Women’s Outreach Committee Coordinator told News India Times. The annakut contained cup cakes, magic bars, granola bars, cakes and pastries. There was a competition for best decoration of the ‘arati thali’, and a best traditional dressed child for the boys, she said.

Once the serious part was over, and before the fun part began, there was a short skit, prepared, directed and acted by the ascetics and children volunteers. Although the skit took them to a journey of outer space, it also brought the astronauts and the audience both to earth and its everyday lessons – to resist temptations and easy way out.

Then came the much awaited part of the day – the games, both outdoor and in-house. The boys made a beeline for the basement assembly-cum-dining hall which had been set up as a games arcade. “These twenty two games are all created by our student volunteers,” said Patel. He said that the young students had come up with the ideas for clean games and had created them by hand out of wood. There were throw balls, throw tic tac toe, miniature golf, and many other games which kept the boys busy as they rushed from one to the other.

Outdoor, in the huge front yard, the girls were giggling away as they jumped up and down on the inflated pop up tents, or slid headlong on the inflated slides, or went into a bucket which swayed back and forth. In the true partying spirit, they could also purchase hot popcorn, or sugar candy floss from the vendors organized by the Mandir.

Patel informed that the Mandir organizes the inflatables every year for the kids’ Diwali event which becomes like a fun filled block party for them. “The idea is to educate them in the culture of Diwali, at the same time teaching them important values of not telling lies, of respecting the efforts of others, and respecting the efforts of all,” Patel said.

“The children did not understand the puja rituals and would get restless. So we came up with the idea of giving them their own puja,” Pragna said. She informed that every year, kids wait eagerly for their own Diwali. She said girls have the advantage of dressing in traditional clothes and look pretty, and the event develops both girls’ and boys’ attention span at the puja and at the skit.

For the children, fun was at the slides and the rocking basket and the sugar candy floss. There was Pav Bhaji for lunch, along with Nacho cheese, baked pasta, and the healthy Khichu (boiled rice flour balls). And, of course, the hot chocolate. The snacks would continue till the evening when the kids would enjoy a much looked-forward-to dinner of fresh pizza – home cooked in the temple kitchen by volunteers. Onions and garlic are not part of Swaminarayan Sattvik diet. But the lack of these elements was not noticed in the delicious food.

All good things come to an end, so did the Kids’ Diwali. At the end of the pizza dinner, after a long and cold day of autumn winds, the kids were all so tired that they were ready to be lifted into cars or walk to the public transportation whichever brought them to the celebrations. But they were still talking excitedly with joy on their tired faces.

Until next year!!