{"id":31920,"date":"2019-11-05T19:30:16","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T19:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=31920"},"modified":"2019-11-05T19:30:16","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T19:30:16","slug":"diwali-in-the-square","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/diwali-in-the-square\/","title":{"rendered":"London&#8217;s Diwali celebrations in the square success &#8211; 18th year running"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Hindu festival Diwali &#8211; which coincides with the Hindu New Year, is celebrated in many parts of London. Although the typical hotspots are Southall and Wembley &#8211; (due to the high number of Indian residents in these areas), Central London is also a place to look out for.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Diwali &#8211; the festival of lights comes to London (multiple times)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Mayor of London, organises free events for the whole community<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Diwali &#8211; Sunday 27th October 2019, celebrations carrying over into November\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Diwali in London (DiL) &#8211; in partnership with the Mayor of London, bring Diwali on Trafalgar Square (DOTS). The Mayor of London has been presenting this annually. This will be the 18th year.<\/p>\n<p>The five-day festival, which is commonly known for its sensational fireworks displays, has a lot more to offer when it comes to these events. From prayers, performances and stalls, there is plenty to enjoy as well as learning about the culture.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">On my visit to DOTS, I asked the public how they feel about the Diwali celebrations in London. I spoke to a mix of people from different ethnicities and this is what they had to say:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Diwali in the Square - 2019 by Rubii\" width=\"500\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F708314188&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=750&#038;maxwidth=500\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\"><em>DOTS &#8211; Sunday 3rd November 2019\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The turnout was vast and regardless of the grey skies, Trafalgar Square was full of colour.<\/p>\n<p>The performers, the public who wore traditional Indian attire and the food stalls &#8211; all played a part in bringing the square to life.<\/p>\n<p>The food that was on offer was delicious, and the conventional Karrak Chai complimented the misty rain.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-31928\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0602.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"575\" height=\"383\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Me enjoying my Karrak Chai<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, gave a heartwarming speech on stage. He welcomed the crowd, wished everyone\u00a0<em>Happy Diwali\u00a0<\/em>and spoke about having peace within the community no matter what religion you are.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-31932\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0586.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"575\" height=\"383\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Close-up shot of the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, when he was speaking to the press<\/em><\/p>\n<p>There was a sign language interpreter on stage throughout the whole event, which was also shown on the big screen whilst guest speakers were talking.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-31930\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0577.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"575\" height=\"383\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Sign language interpreter\u00a0on stage and big screen<\/em><\/p>\n<p>British Indian stand-up comedian and actor, Nishant Kumar, was also present on the day. Kumar is also known for The Mash Report &#8211; which he hosts on BBC Two, and BBC Radio 4 Extra&#8217;s topical comedy show Newsjack. Him and other comedians were in a marquee hosting a show of their own. There were huge crowds surrounding the marquee as there weren&#8217;t enough seats for the audience.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-31939\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0613.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"570\" height=\"380\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em>Through the peephole &#8211; this shot was literally taken through a peephole<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Diwali in London is celebrated greatly all around the city. The event was a triumph and we hope for more spectacular events like these in the future. If you happened to miss this event not to worry.<\/p>\n<p>There is another Diwali celebration happening this Sunday &#8211; 10th November in Wembley Park called: &#8216;Light Up the Night&#8217;. It is a free event and a &#8216;fireworks spectacular&#8217; is on the itinerary. For more information visit: wembleypark.com\/fireworks.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong>Picture Gallery &#8211; DOTS 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31941 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0574.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31942 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0578.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31945 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0597.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31944 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0582.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31947 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0611.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31946 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0607.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31950 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0621.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-31948 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2019\/11\/IMG_0619.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"395\" height=\"263\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Words: Rubi Hashmi | Featured image credit: Rubi Hashmi\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Hindu festival Diwali &#8211; which coincides with the Hindu New Year, is celebrated in many parts of London. Although the typical hotspots are Southall and Wembley &#8211; (due to the high number of Indian&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":31940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,37,38,42,93,106,145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-diversity","category-diwali","category-entertainment","category-news","category-religion","category-worldnews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}