Diwali in the Tamil Nadu is celebrated in the month of aipasi (thula month)
'naraka chaturdasi' thithi, preceding amavasai. The preparations for the
Diwali Festival begin the day before, when the oven is cleaned, smeared with
lime, four or five kumkum dots are applied, and then it is filled with water
for the next day's oil bath. The house is washed and decorated with kolam
(rangoli) patterns with kavi (red oxide). For Diwali Festival, in the
traditional pooja room, betel leaves, betel nuts, plaintain fruits, flowers,
sandal paste, kumkum, gingelly oil, turmeric powder, scented powder is kept.
Crackers and new dresses are placed in a plate after smearing a little
kumkum or sandal paste.
The Diwali day begins with everyone in the family taking an oil bath before
sunrise, a custom arising from a belief that having an oil bath in the
morning on the day of diwali is equivalent to taking bath in the Ganges.
Before the bath, elders in the house apply gingelly oil on the heads of the
younger members. For those hailing from Tanjore, the custom is to first take
a small quantity of deepavali lehiyam (medicinal, ayurvedic paste) after the
oil bath and then have breakfast. Often sweets are eaten after wearing new
clothes. In almost all houses, items like ukkarai, velli appam, idly,
chutney, sambhar, omapudi, boondhi are prepared. For lunch, jangri, pathir
peni, or one variety of the poli are made.
Crackers are usually burst only after the bath. Meanwhile, kuthu vilaku
(oil lamp) is lit in the pooja room. Mats or wooden planks are placed facing
east. After naivedhya (offering to the Gods) of the items, a plaintain fruit
is given to each member of the family followed by betel leaves and betel
nuts. Those who have to perform 'pithru tharpanam' will have a second bath
perform the tharpanam and don't eat rice at night.
