Diwali 2012

last week end, my rommate tasha, our friend mark, and i went down to spanish fork, utah to go to a diwali celebration.

diwali is the hindu festival of lights. 

saturday night at the hindu temple at spanish fork there was dancing by a troop from los angeles, food, fireworks and music/chanting

we arrived a little late (we kinda got lost) but it was so much fun.

the best part was at the end when we all made wishes on little lanterns and then put our lanterns in the little pond next to the temple.

 at first, we were a little imtimidated by the two llamas, especially since one of them was freaking out anytime someone came near. but the other one was more friendly.  

 once we realized how insanely calm the second llama was, we had a fun little photo shoot with us loving all over him. tangerine (we think that was his name) may look unamused, but he loved it, i promise.

 on sunday morning we went to a baptist church in provo with danita, who graciously let tash and i crash at her apartment.  it was fun; they had a band and the bass player was super adorable.  the singer sounded like the guy that sings for green day.  he had a speech impediment that made "k"s sound like "ch"s.  so, "come worship" became "chome worship". it was a hoot.  

 after church, tash and i napped on danita's couch, and then we picked up mark and headed to salt lake for diwali festival #2.  

before the festival, we went to the cathedral de magdalene just south of temple square and caught the tail end of spanish mass. it was insanely gorgeous inside! it was green and pink and lovely.  

 then we walked down to temple square. i've always felt like the salt lake temple, while gorgeous, was a tad overrated since everyone always gets married there, which is lame, since it has so much history and took 40 years to build.  but now that i've visited it a few times in the past few years i've been out west for school and have learned more about its symbolism, i really appreciate it more.  i mean, it's definitely the prettiest lds temple.

so, diwali festival #2 wasn't as cool, since the hindu temple in salt lake looks like a nursing home rather than a Mughal mansion.  the cultural celebration was pretty much exactly the same as the spanish fork one; all the workers and the dancers were the same. all the workers were white, so we couldn't decide if they were actually hindu or just volunteers. there was a singer who we didn't hear at the spanish fork festival. he was pretty good, but he only played for like 15 mins instead of his allotted 30; we're not sure why, but there seemed to be some drama involved.  so, the above picture was of the skit/play thing they performed.  i guess it was suppose to be really funny somehow, but i guess i don't get hindu humor? it was one of those plays where the voices are pre-recorded like the plays at sea world.  

in conclusion, it was a super fun weekend filled with like 4 different religions!