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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, your calls about you and Diwali. Listeners, how did you celebrate this year? If you celebrate Diwali, how do you feel knowing that Diwali is slated to be a New York City public school holiday starting next year? Give us a call, 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, for those of you who celebrate Diwali. For those of you who don't know, it's a five-day holiday that this year ended on Wednesday. We're going to let our other listeners, our celebrants talk more about it.

The new story that you may or may not have heard is that last week, the Adams administration announced that it is moving forward to make Diwali a school holiday in New York City beginning next year. Now, making Diwali a school holiday in New York City was a campaign promise of Eric Adams. According to reporting by Gothamist, it was a bill that would remove Brooklyn–Queens Day, what even is that, from the school holiday calendar, therefore allowing room for Diwali to become a school holiday while maintaining the state-required 180 days of school per year.

Who celebrates Diwali who happens to be listening right now? Call and talk about your family traditions, your personal rituals, what you'll do with the kids if you have kids when it's a school holiday that will recognize the occasion. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. Regarding the addition of Diwali as a school holiday, Schools Chancellor David Banks said, "When we talk about the education of New York City students, we have to recognize the whole world lives here."

It's true, New York City is a global city, obviously, and Diwali is a global holiday celebrated by over a billion people worldwide, I've read, including Hindus and Sikhs and Jains and Buddhists. Probably, those of you who are not celebrants think of it as primarily a Hindu thing. That certainly would be the largest population group, but it's also a Sikh holiday, also a Jain holiday, also a Buddhist observation holiday. 212-433-WNYC. Tell everybody else about your Diwali rituals. Did you celebrate this year? Did you celebrate for all five days of the holiday from last Saturday to Wednesday two days ago?

Tell us about your celebrations and what it means to you that New York City schools will be recognizing Diwali as an official holiday going forward. Nothing against Brooklyn and Queens, but whatever was Brooklyn-Queens Day anyway? Will that impact how you celebrate, having school days off, or not really? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. I know it's also known as a Festival of Lights. Hanukkah is also called the Festival of Light, and this is a Festival of Lights. So many holidays from different traditions have lights involved, right?

A five-day celebration of the triumph of light over dark, good or evil, knowledge over ignorance is, I know, one way that people talk about Diwali, a time of self-awareness and reflection but also a time to celebrate and gather with family, a time to feast, eat sweets, pray for peace, for wealth, for prosperity, and lighting lots of lights. Call and tell us about your Diwali rituals, how you celebrate, how you observe, what you might do with the kids when it becomes a school holiday next year.

212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692, or tweet @BrianLehrer. Now we're going to go on to your calls about how you celebrate Diwali and what it might mean to you that it's going to become a New York City public school holiday next year. We'll start with Rupal in Montclair. You're on WNYC. Hey, Rupal.

Rupal: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me on. Can you hear me?

Brian Lehrer: I can hear you just fine, yes. You celebrate Diwali?

Rupal: Okay, good. Hi. I do. I have been celebrating for years. I am a native. I'm from India. I'm an immigrant and moved to the States when I was seven. It's been a tradition in our family for all of these years now. It's been pretty amazing. Here in Montclair, the school district gave us the holiday this year. Monday, our kids were home from school, and what an amazing feeling it was to have the day off and to be recognized, and to have a day to celebrate together as a family. It was pretty amazing.

Brian Lehrer: That is great. What's your favorite thing to do for the holiday?

Rupal: Well, we did rangoli. You didn't mention that. This is where we make patterns with colored powder sand. We do drawings of deities or we make different types of patterns, and then we put our lights on it. That was a cool project that I did with the kids. We all incorporated our own designs into one big colorful mural, then we lit it up with lamps. I really loved doing that, and, of course, the feasting. [chuckles] We have to have a big Diwali meal. That's always a fun thing to do.

Brian Lehrer: Before I move on to other callers, is there a food at the heart of that meal, like turkey is to Thanksgiving something is to Diwali or no?

Rupal: Each family has their own separate way to celebrate. Growing up, we had different foods depending on if I was celebrating today with my mother's family or with my father's family. I think that it just depends on what your family considers to be that main food. For me, this year, we just did a big feast that we ordered out, and we had North Indian food, which was amazing. We had a variety of things. Sweets are really the big heart of the Diwali, so all the different Indian sweets. I think it's the time when all the Indian shops are the busiest with all the sweet making and so many varieties.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you.

Rupal: Everybody has their own favorite.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Rupal. Thank you for starting us off. We'll go next to [unintelligible 00:07:15] in Tenafly. [unintelligible 00:07:18], you're on WNYC. Hi there.

Caller 2: Hi, Brian. Thank you for having me. I am a big fan of you. The variety of knowledge you have is amazing. Going to Diwali, I'm a Hindu Gujarati [unintelligible 00:07:33], born and brought up in Bombay, married to a Muslim man in Bombay, so my household is unique. We do celebrate most holidays, Thanksgiving being my favorite because it's religious, but Diwali holds just not as a religious festival, but it has a lot of deep thoughts.

It has thoughts of welcoming new things, cleaning out your home, bringing good things in your life, getting good over the evil as when Rama came back to his Ayodhya, that was the celebration because he won over Ravana. That's actually the celebration of Diwali. For me, it means new beginning. it means we're welcoming new changes. We clean our homes, we let good energy come in. It has more meanings than just the religious part of it.

Brian Lehrer: Can you talk more about that origin story?

Caller 2: Origin of me or the Diwali?

Brian Lehrer: No, no, of Diwali. You were saying that it originally had to do with--

Speaker 3: When Lord Ram was made king of Ayodhya-

Brian Lehrer: Lord Ram.

Speaker 3: -one of his [unintelligible 00:08:55] didn't like it, so he was told to go outside the land for 14 years. That's where the whole Ramayana and all that gets depicted. He fights over the evil king who had abducted his wife, Sita. After the 14 years were over, he comes back to his land, and that's where the whole people of Ayodhya are doing celebrations. Also, towards the harvest time, we do clean out the home. We put lights because you're welcoming brightness, you're welcoming good in your life, and you conquer the evil.

That's what the celebration of Diwali. It's good over bad, it's celebration of lights, it's celebration of victory, it's new hope. I think we all need it after COVID. Being a physician, we went through a very tough time, and so this Diwali has a very special meaning to all of us.

Brian Lehrer: Thank you so much for your call, [unintelligible 00:09:56]. Thank you. Let me go next to [unintelligible 00:10:00] in a taxi in Manhattan. You're on WNYC. Hi, [unintelligible 00:10:04].

Caller 3: Good morning, Brian. How are you?

Brian Lehrer: Good. Do you celebrate Diwali?

Caller 3: Diwali? I'm an immigrant from Afghanistan. I'm a Hindu. The Hicksville School is closed for last five years of the Diwali days.

Brian Lehrer: Is that where you live, in Hicksville?

Caller 3: Yes. Hickville School been closed for last, I would say, four or five years. Diwali is the new year for us. Also, we have to buy gold, but gold was very expensive this year, so I did not buy gold this year. I hope next year the price go down. Diwali is the new year, and also is the new year with a lot of Indian's culture. They close the book for the old years, [unintelligible 00:10:57] starting the new year after the Diwali.

Brian Lehrer: Are there different ways that people from different backgrounds celebrate as far as you know? Like you said, you're from Afghanistan, is it different there than maybe the way it's celebrated in India or somewhere else if you know?

Caller 3: Before 1979 [unintelligible 00:11:22] celebrating in Afghanistan big times like same in India, lighting the diyas, what you call the candles. All was the same. The store was open until nine o'clock, so a lot of homeless people coming for Diwali stopped by in the store. Every homeless person gets some money from Hindu people, and we always give it to them, but [unintelligible 00:11:49].

The culture is give it to children and to the wife or sister or mother. You have to give them the gold, but the gold was expensive. Diwali culture is supposed to be vegetarian. Now it's changing. People eat meat, they go gambling 100%. A lot of people do gambling and they stay all night and they drink alcohol. It's okay, but everything's being changed. My brother do eat, drinks, gambling, not me.

Brian Lehrer: [unintelligible 00:12:26], thank you so much for your call. We really appreciate it. Belated happy Diwali to you. Pravin in Old Bridge, you're on WNYC. Hi, Pravin.

Pravin: Hi, Brian. Thanks for having me. Brian, let me tell you, when I was a kid, we used to wait almost 10 days before just to check when the Diwali going to come as a kid when I was in India. We were all going to prepare and the home will be [unintelligible 00:12:59] with preparing sweets and stuff. When the day comes, it's full of celebration and everybody will be there.

[unintelligible 00:13:08] part of different part of the world or different part of the country, they're going to gather at one single place. We always longed for when the next Diwali going to come. It's like a Christmas for us. When I moved to US almost 10 years ago, my kids only heard about what we used to celebrate. The one good thing it started happening is in my kids' school who studies in Woodbridge Middle School, the teachers also started giving hints and glimpses of how the Diwali is and it's the Festival of Lights and how it's celebrated in India every year.

One another good thing is we started bursting firecrackers recent few years because the law now allows bursting firecrackers on the day of Diwali. That's a good thing. Furthermore, if we get one designated holiday, it's absolutely great how we're going to celebrate as-- Together, we want to celebrate the great Festival of Lights, and it's a great thing to hear, Brian.

Brian Lehrer: That is a wonderful story that you tell. There's some of how it's celebrated with the kids when the schools acknowledge it and maybe a template for how it's going to be celebrated by some families anyway when it becomes a New York City public school holiday next year. I guess one of the things that we're learning from these calls that I didn't know is that there already are school systems in our New York metropolitan area that have had Diwali off in Hicksville and Montclair and elsewhere.

Usually, New York City public schools are ahead on things like this. This time, they're behind. Anton in Brooklyn wants to say what a couple of callers are calling up to say, which is, yes, great that we're going to recognize Diwali but sad that you're losing Brooklyn-Queens Day as a school holiday. Right, Anton?

Anton: Well, yes, that's true. There's a couple of things I wanted to say though. Personally, it's not my heritage to celebrate Diwali, but I work in tech and we have a strong Hindu contingency at the office. We would have an office celebration of it every year, and I got to know the holiday a little bit that way. It's a beautiful holiday. I fully agree that it should be celebrated by the public school system in New York City with an off day, but we can't lose Brooklyn-Queens Day. Come on. I grew up in Queens. I went to Bayside High School, which I'm pretty sure you did too. Is that correct?

Brian Lehrer: Yes, I did. That is correct.

Anton: You did? What year? I'm '96.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, yes. I was well before you.

Anton: Okay, fair enough, but you got Brooklyn-Queens Day off as a student of Bayside High School, did you not?

Brian Lehrer: I absolutely did and in elementary school too. I remember thinking, "God, this is great. We get it off from school and the people in Brooklyn get it off, and the other three boroughs don't. Those poor kids in the other three boroughs." Then, I guess, somewhere along the way after I was out of school, they made it a citywide holiday and called it, I think, Anniversary Day, and then I think everybody got it off at that point.

Anton: Then they reverted back to Brooklyn-Queens Day-

Brian Lehrer: Oh, is that right?

Anton: -at some point.

Brian Lehrer: Oh, maybe they did.

Anton: That's right, yes. I remember that transition. When I was in elementary school, it was Anniversary Day for a minute, for a couple of years, I guess, and then it went back to Brooklyn-Queens Day because I distinctly remember going to prom and the way they had our prom was the night before. It was always the first Thursday in June, and the prom was the Wednesday before and waking up-- well, not really waking up, staying up all night, and then roaming in the city, on Thursday going into Manhattan, and all the Manhattan kids were obviously in school, and it felt like we had the city to ourselves, which was pretty fun.

Brian Lehrer: There you go. That's right. Anton, I'm going to leave it there. Thank you very much. Yes, right. It was Brooklyn-Queens Day June 8th this year, also known as Anniversary Day, I was right about that, and then also known, this is a real celebration, Chancellor's Conference Day for staff development. [chuckles] I guess the teachers had to go in but the students got off. Here, I just pulled up a 2003 New York Times article that says, School's Out? Here's a History Lesson About Brooklyn-Queens Day. Let's see, let's see, let's see.

"State legislature passed a law in 1905, making the first Thursday in June an annual holiday for the public schools of Brooklyn. The purpose was to celebrate the founding of the Sunday school movement in Brooklyn." The article says, "Say what? Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott recently said the day commemorated the founding of the Brooklyn Sunday School Union Society to be exact, a Protestant group that led a parade of Sunday school students through Brooklyn every spring." Then it went on from there. I don't know how Queens got involved, but anyway, there's going to be no more Brooklyn-Queens Day or Chancellor's Conference Day for staff development. One more call. Mysha in South Orange, you're on WNYC. Hello, Mysha.

Mysha: Hi, Brian. This is Mysha.

Brian Lehrer: Mysha, I'm sorry.

Mysha: I'm a first-time caller, a long-time listener. I love your show. I live in South Orange now, but I am originally from Zimbabwe where my mom's side of the family of South Indian origin [unintelligible 00:19:12], and Diwali was a huge thing for us. My mom would start cooking for days in advance, and all the family regardless of all the adult politics that used to happen during the year, was put aside and we got to spend time with all our cousins and stuff.

When I arrived in the United States, obviously, the family is now all separated, but when I arrived in the United States and I had my first child, I was very nostalgic about the time that we used to have in Zimbabwe. Whilst I don't have family in this area, I decided to incorporate Diwali as part of our big holiday here. Now, we have an annual Diwali party where this year on Saturday, we had 70 people at home. I get it catered.

I only serve Indian food. Most of my friends are non-Indian, so this was a huge learning lesson to everyone over the years. I've been doing it for nine years now to the point where most people that come to the party come dressed. I take them to Edison, they do some shopping, or I've now shown them where to go. We have henna artists come through. We do rangoli together, we do fireworks now that it's legal to do it.

Brian Lehrer: That has to be the last word, I'm sorry to say, because we're out of time for this segment. Thank you, Mysha, very much. Thanks to all of you who called to share your Diwali rituals. There are callers who originally came here from Afghanistan, India, Mysha from Zimbabwe. Thank you all for educating everybody else about Diwali.

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