Day 10
Diwali at Edinburgh Hindu Mandir & Cultural Centre
From the Edinburgh Hindu Mandir:
Edinburgh Hindu Mandir is the only Hindu Place of worship in the capital city of Scotland and is based in Leith.
Our temple building, a former Church, is a spacious building which can easily hold 500 people and more when the need calls for it. We have a large congregation, not just from Leith, but across the city, which meets once a fortnight.
We celebrate at least 15-20 events every year from cultural, spiritual, religious, educational & Interfaith related. Diwali being the biggest festival for Hindus we celebrate in a grand way – This is Christmas for Hindus.
Our religious ceremony of Diwali happens in the temple whereas the cultural and other fun part of Diwali is normally conducted outside our temple premises at a hired venue (usually a School or community hall). This allows us to accommodate more people and fundraise.
Diwali is a festival of Lights and Hope. Diwali is the single-biggest celebration for more than a billion people living around the world. Like many other events, this year Diwali has been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic with family celebrations set to be impacted by social distancing restrictions.
Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain people from India, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Fiji all celebrate this shiny Festival of Light. People of Indian heritage living elsewhere also gather with their family and friends to celebrate Diwali.
The Hindu Diaspora of Edinburgh is very happy to be included in ‘Leith for Ever’ digital project, which reconciles with core essence for Hinduism which is unity in Diversity.
Like much else this year the Edinburgh Hindu Mandir and the central Edinburgh Diwali celebrations are taking place online.
Special Thanks to Hermann Rodrigues for his help on this post. He runs ‘BROON SCOTS’ a photography documentary about celebrating the South Asian diaspora in Scotland. The collection stretches from Dumfriesshire to Stornoway and documents over 30 years of Scottish South Asian’s experiences and lives.
