Thirumangai Durairajoo did not want her children to miss out on one of the biggest festivals in Singaporean culture.
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So when they moved to Launceston five years ago, their tradition of celebrating Diwali came too.
Over the years, they’ve opened up their doors for more people to experience their culture.
“I wanted to continue our traditional ways.”
What started out as a small gathering at their house five years ago has become an event of more than 50 people.
But if they were living in Singapore, “every relation visits each other” and people would be streaming in-and-out of their house from 10am until 11pm.
Mrs Durairajoo said when she lived at her parent-in-law’s house with her husband, she would be up cooking from 4am to prepare traditional foods with her mother-in-law.
The scent of pineapple tarts, Murukulu – a spiral rice flour snack, and stir fries filled the kitchen.
However, the cooking process has changed over the years Mrs Durairajoo has been celebrating Diwali, or
Drying and grinding the rice for Murukulu before creating the bird nest-esque creations used to take three to four days.
But with pre-packaged mixes, baking time was ground down to five hours.
“More of the traditional cookies are being phased out, which is sad,” Mrs Durairajoo said.
Fewer of the recipes were being passed down as people moved away from the tradition of living with their extended family to more nuclear households, she said.
Some traditions didn’t change, and it could be an expensive occasion.
Each morning on Diwali, they woke up and had an oil bath before getting dressed.
Every family member had to wear new clothes and buy enough food to cater for the stream of guests visiting their houses, she said.
They then “fell on the feet of their elders to get their blessing” before prayers.
For children, they each received an envelope with money from family members and people who visited their house.
Rihashni Manickam, her daughter, said children could get up to $500 in a day.
The festival “signifies removing negativity from your life … and the lamps symbolise bringing light into your life”.
The festival originally centered around a story of a demon being killed by a god.
The demon requested, before it died, that it could be granted a wish for its death not to be mourned, but instead to be celebrated with light.
In Australia, they use candles instead of oil lamps.
They even have families bring their own candles along to the festivities after doing some research.
Tess Brunton
I recently returned from across the ditch where I worked at New Zealand Fairfax paper The Timaru Herald and developed a love of mountains. Originally I'm a mainlander from an area known for cheese, the Bega Valley, who also dabbled in radio at ABC RCAFF before finding a place in newspapers. I can often be found hiking, caving or climbing when I'm not cursing at my work computer or technology in general.
I recently returned from across the ditch where I worked at New Zealand Fairfax paper The Timaru Herald and developed a love of mountains. Originally I'm a mainlander from an area known for cheese, the Bega Valley, who also dabbled in radio at ABC RCAFF before finding a place in newspapers. I can often be found hiking, caving or climbing when I'm not cursing at my work computer or technology in general.
