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Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Home made tradition


Around October-November, in India, we have this national festival of lights, Diwali/Deepawali. Along with the usual rituals, which is mainly lighting hundreds of small clay lamps (Deep) in the evening, we follow the tradition of making Rangoli or patterns out of bright coloured powder and flowers at the threshold of our homes. One can either do this free hand or with the help of stencils which are becoming common and are easily available all around the city (Bombay, where I live) during the season. Time and mind saving, these stencils make instant designs on your floor. However, I prefer the age old way of letting slip the powder with the pinch and patient slide of my thumb and index finger along the imaginary lines of the pattern I keep drawing in my mind simultaneously.
This simple Rangoli done on Diwali eve took me about an hour and a half to finish.

11 comments:

  1. family traditions, made with loving hands how wonderful. What an amazing Rangoli it's beautiful and a lovely tradition.

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  2. How beautiful this is and I enjoyed hearing about the Diwali tradition.

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  3. So stunning in pattern, texture & color. I imagine it being a meditative process while creating.

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  4. Wow this is so pretty and interesting to learn about. I hope you get to admire your work for a few days at least.

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  5. What a great tradition, colourful and meaningful. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  6. I love traditions, and this is so beautiful and colorful.

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  7. Thank you for sharing part of your culture and your beautiful creation!

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  8. It is gorgeous and very interesting!

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  9. this is so interesting. it doesn't look like a simple pattern to me. very pretty. thanks for sharing this tradition.

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  10. ...Amazing!...I once watched Buddist monks making a sand painting which took several days...then it was washed into the river...beautiful temporary art...

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