{"id":2064017,"date":"2025-10-02T09:23:56","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T09:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2064017"},"modified":"2025-10-02T09:23:56","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T09:23:56","slug":"celebrate-diwali-with-food-lights-music-and-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/celebrate-diwali-with-food-lights-music-and-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Diwali with food, lights, music and prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

\n

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights,\u00a0celebrates the victory of light over darkness. On Long Island and around the world, the celebration starts with prayer and the lighting of the\u00a0diya (an oil lamp) in homes and places of worship.<\/p>\n

The holiday spans five days (Oct. 18-22) with the maincelebration on Oct. 20. It continues the following day with the bringing of traditional food to places of worship adding to Annakut, a large food offering to God. Here are ways to observe the holiday:<\/p>\n

Oct. 5: DIWALI CELEBRATION<\/h2>\n

Global Harmony House, 46 S. Middle Neck Rd., Great Neck<\/em><\/p>\n

“Lighting the Path\u00a0to a Golden Future” features a Diwali exhibition that explores spiritual themes and includes festive displays from 2:30 to 5 p.m.; Diwali program with cultural performances and music, 3 to 4:30 p.m. (free).
\u00a0<\/span>More info\u00a0<\/strong>Tickets on eventbrite.com<\/a>; globalharmonyhouse.org<\/a>, RSVP: 516-773-0971.<\/p>\n

Oct. 5: DIWALI FESTIVAL OF LIGHT IN HICKSVILLE<\/h2>\n

Asamai Hindu Temple, parking lot opposite 80 E. Barclay St., Hicksville<\/em><\/p>\n

A puja prayer service and a prasad (food offering) will be held, asking the gods for blessings to bring peace, health and wealth, noon to 7 p.m. .\u00a0Children can play musical chairs and other games and gather to light candles from 2 to 3 p.m. Free;<\/p>\n

More info<\/strong>\u00a0asamai.com<\/a>, 516-433-4388. <\/p>\n

Oct. 11: DIWALI CELEBRATION IN PORT JEFFERSON<\/h2>\n

111 W. Broadway, Port Jefferson<\/em><\/p>\n

The festival of lights\u00a0celebration\u00a0includes henna painting; sparklers for kids; authentic sweets<\/a> including gujiya with coconut,\u00a0cardamom\u00a0and raisins,\u00a0and coconut ladoo; live sitar music by Dee Harris; and an Indian fusion, vegetarian and seafood menu (fee), 6 to 9 p.m. at the Curry Club. Free, reservations required.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More info<\/strong>\u00a0curryclubatsaghar.com<\/a>, 631-751-4845<\/p>\n

Oct. 11: 38TH DEEPAVALI FESTIVAL\u00a0<\/h2>\n

Overlook Beach, Ocean Parkway, Babylon\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The free festival features authentic Indian cuisine, Masala chai (spiced tea), fashion show, yoga and Zumba sessions, Henna tattoos, shopping bazaar\u00a0and fireworks (7:30 p.m.), noon to 8\u00a0p.m. rain date: Oct. 12. The event will also include Rangoli and art displays and Ramayana Musical live dance drama.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More info <\/strong>aia-ny.org<\/a>, 516-603-5022<\/p>\n

Oct. 18: DIWALI CELEBRATION\u00a0<\/h2>\n

2 South St., Garden City<\/em><\/p>\n

The celebration includes a cocktail hour at 5:30 p.m., followed by a ceremony at 7:15\u00a0p.m. with live entertainment and dinner at 8 p.m. at Akbar Restaurant. Tickets start at $150;\u00a0Hosted by American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin, Queens and Long Island.<\/p>\n

More info<\/strong>\u00a0aapiqli.org<\/a>, 516-357-8300. <\/p>\n

Oct. 12 and Oct. 22: DIWALI AND\u00a0NEW YEAR CELEBRATION IN MELVILLE<\/h2>\n

2 Deshon Dr., Melville<\/em><\/p>\n

The Diwali celebration begins at 7 p.m. and includes Chopda Punjan, a ceremony in which\u00a0journals and prayer books are blessed as families pray for success and happiness in the coming year. The Annakut (food mountain) offering as per traditional Hindu cultural tradition takes place from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 22 at BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir. New Year’s Arti, 7 a.m. Oct. 22. Also,\u00a0children\u2019s celebration featuring traditions including praying,\u00a0wearing traditional clothes and games with a focus on Diwali, 10:30 a.m. to 7\u00a0p.m. Oct. 12.<\/p>\n

More info<\/strong> baps.org\/Longisland<\/a>, 631-996-9237. <\/p>\n

Oct. 29: DIWALI\u00a0CELEBRATION IN NEW HYDE PARK\u00a0<\/h2>\n

1601 Marcus Ave., New Hyde Park<\/em><\/p>\n

The event features the lighting of the diya and\u00a0cultural performances including dance and music, 6\u00a0to 9\u00a0p.m. \u00a0at Clinton G. Martin Park (free).<\/p>\n

More info <\/strong>northhempsteadny.gov<\/a>, 516-869-7625. <\/p>\n

Nov. 9: DIWALI GALA\u00a0IN WOODBURY<\/h2>\n

8325 Jericho Tpke., Woodbury<\/em><\/p>\n

The gala features\u00a0Devendra Gupta\u00a0performing Indian folk and popular tunes, 5 to 10\u00a0p.m. at the Crest Hollow Country Club. $150\u00a0includes a buffet dinner and entertainment.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

More info<\/strong>\u00a0ranausa.org<\/a>, 516-987-0053.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.newsday.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights,\u00a0celebrates the victory of light over darkness. On Long Island and around the world, the celebration starts with prayer and the lighting of the\u00a0diya (an oil lamp) in homes and places of worship. The holiday spans five days (Oct. 18-22) with the maincelebration on Oct. 20. It continues the following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2064018,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25179],"tags":[22034],"class_list":["post-2064017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-events"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Celebrate-Diwali-with-food-lights-music-and-prayer.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2064017"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064017\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2064019,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2064017\/revisions\/2064019"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2064018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2064017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2064017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2064017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}