Every year around October and November, Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, or Deepavali—a festival of lights that stretches back more than 2,500 years. And in India, the five-day celebration marks the biggest holiday of the year. Candles, oil lamps, electric lights, special foods, dance, nama sankirtana's (songs/chants), and rituals are all involved during this sweet time which is guided by the lunar calendar, just as so many eastern religions and spiritualities are. There are many stories attached to this holiday.

We will begin by students sharing what their family does for the holiday so that we can learn a little about each other. We then watch a short video about the holiday giving a nice introduction. After the video I give a lecture all about the holiday including its ancient past, how it came to be, the stories attached to it, and its present. I'll then ask some questions related to the lecture and students will give their responses. Students may want to scribble down some notes during my lecture. After the lecture, we will watch another video about how other countries celebrate the holiday and have a class discussion about it. At the end, we will play a live Kahoot game to reinforce what has been learned.

By learning about holidays, we learn more about different cultures and especially history in a secular mode.