Community
6 November, 2024
Mount Isa's Indian community celebrates Diwali
There was a good gathering last Saturday for the iconic Hindu festival of lights celebration.
Mount Isa’s Indian community hopes its annual Diwali celebrations will grow in popularity as it welcomes families of all cultural and religious backgrounds to the event.
About 50 people gathered at the Island Bowls Club on Saturday night for the Hindu festival of lights – which marks a celebration of the spiritual victory of Dharma over Adharma – meaning, light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.
It is the fifth time Mount Isa’s Indian community has gathered to mark the special day, with the first occasion being in 2020.
Event organiser Vipul Gupta described Diwali as being like an “Indian Christmas”.
“There is food and sparkles for the kids and music and dancing – everything you would expect at a celebration,” he said.
“It is one of the biggest events in India – and in Mount Isa we were all celebrating it in our separate homes – so then we thought it would be good to try to bring everyone together to a bigger event.
“The Indian population in Mount Isa continues to grow every year and so our event is growing every year, also.”
Mr Gupta said Diwali celebrations were significant in India because they reached across traditional religious and cultural lines.
He hoped the spirit of the local event would continue to widen in scope to encourage everyone in the city to get involved.
“All Indians celebrate Diwali because it is all about the community coming together and helping each other out – and I think that is also what Mount Isa is all about,” he told North West Weekly.
“Diwali is not just about the Indian community, it is something everyone can be involved in, so we would really like to see the celebrations grow in the city as well.”
Diwali has begun attracting widespread attention across Australia in recent years with Hindu Council of Australia President Sai Paravastu last week calling for the annual event to be recognised as a public holiday or a long weekend.