Diwali

These are rangoli designs made by the children on Diwali.  We used blocks of chalk available here especially for this purpose.  The chalk is soaked in water until dissolved.  Then you dip and a piece of cloth into the runny paste and paint your designs.  It's also possible to use flour and water.   In addition to the chalk we used cloured powder and flower petals.  Glitter would have been nice too, but we didn't have any on hand.

There are traditional rangoli designs that have special meanings.  Maybe we'll learn these together in the future. 

This was our second mini Diwali festival.     

The program started with  rangoli designs in the late afternoon followed by songs and kirtan, readings from the Ramayan and a feast inside.  We then headed back outside to decorate the night with lamps.

  These photos have been taken from Radha's blog.  I forgot to take photos of the lamps, but if I had they wouldn't have come out better than these.