Decorating Your Home
Clean your home to prepare it for the festival. Start by getting rid of unnecessary clutter, and do general cleaning, like dusting and vacuuming. Then, wash the floors and walls thoroughly to make them look bright and new.. If there's a special place in your house where you'll be entertaining guests, take time to clean that area very thoroughly. Remember to clean outdoor spaces, like your front door and windows, to ensure that your lamps will be visible to your neighbors.
Hang up seasonal decorations to prepare for the celebration. Position colorful pictures of Goddesses on the walls, and position bright flowers throughout your home. Hang multi-colored streamers and cloths from the ceiling and walls to add even more color. Be sure to prepare plenty of candles, as you'll need them for your lanterns. Some people choose to decorate only one area of their house, like a table or a corner of a room.
Draw Rangoli near your door to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi. Rangoli, which are also called “kolams,” are made of rice powder. Use food coloring to change the color of the rice powder, and spread it along the ground in a looping and dotted pattern. If you want the Rangoli to last all day, mix in a few drops of water to form a paste before you apply the powder to the ground. You can create a stencil for your Rangoli by poking holes in a paper plate in your desired pattern. Then, just place the plate on the ground and sprinkle the powder over it. Lift up the plate and admire your kolam!
Place clay lamps on or near the kolams and light them. Gather enough lamps to surround your kolam, and position them around the outer border of the design. As the sun sets for the day, put the oil inside of the lamps, and then light them one at a time to illuminate the kolam for the festival. Make sure the outdoor lamps are clay because they are less likely to blow away or fall over if the weather becomes bad.
Light colorful lamps and candles throughout your home. Place a lamp or candle in each of your windows, and position lamps in any room where you'll be spending time. If you have a Puja room, put a few lamps in there and light them. Make sure your candles aren't too close to anything that could easily catch on fire before you light them. The lamps are meant to serve as a reminder during the holiday that good can overcome evil.
Participating in the Festival
Exchange gifts with your friends and family to show your appreciation. Make or buy small presents for each member of your family, and make time to see each other during the festival. Enjoy each other's company by playing games, eating your favorite meals, and catching up on each other's lives. Children are normally given gifts like firecrackers and noisemakers, which they can take outside to play with. Traditionally, people will try to see every living member of their family during this time. If you're far away from your family, try setting up a phone or video call to talk to them.
Wear new clothes and shoes to look your best. One of the best parts of Karthigai Deepam is dressing up. Women tend to wear new dresses and jewelry, while men showcase new pants and shirts. Most members of the family will get a new pair of shoes in their favorite style for the celebration. There isn't a traditional dress code for the festival, but people tend to dress in bright colors since it's an extension of the Diwali festival of colors.
Visit Tiruvannamalai hill to see the lighting of the lamp if you're in India. Karthigai Deepam is celebrated mostly in the Tamil Nadu region of India. Plan to go on the 10th day of the festival to see the lighting of the big lamp on the hill, which is free and visible to anyone in the area. Be sure to get there before noon, since the lighting starts around 5 p.m., and around 1 million people attend the event every year.
Walk around the town to view the decorations and lights. Take a stroll through Tiruvannamalai after the lighting ceremony. Feel free to take pictures of your favorite lights and kolams, and talk to the people outside of the houses. Most people are very friendly and happy to talk to anyone at the festival! You can also grab some food to eat from one of the many vendors at the festival, and eat while you walk around the town. There might also be people dancing and singing throughout the town. You can watch them while you walk around, or join in to take part in the celebration!
Focusing on Spirituality
Meditate with the success of your family members in mind. When you pray, focus on the prosperity of others, like your relatives and close friends. This signifies your selflessness, and they will be praying for your success and prosperity, as well. Pray for their health, happiness, success, and safety in the upcoming year. If you have children, you can teach them to pray for their friends, cousins, and adult family members. If they have siblings, it may be helpful to tell them to focus on praying for only their siblings at this time.
Do favors for your friends and family to help them become more prosperous. Throughout the festival, do your best to help others and go out of your way to assist them. Offer to run errands or help with cooking and cleaning for the festivities. In return, their lives will become easier and you can feel more fulfilled. If your friends and family members don't need help at the time, that's okay. Keep an eye out for other ways you could help them.
Forgive others and focus on your future. If you've had conflict with your friends and family in the past, Karthigai Deepam is a time to reflect on these conflicts and forgive those who have hurt you. Talk to them about how things can change in the new year, and let them know that you want to put your disagreement in the past. If you can't or don't want to talk to someone who has hurt you, try to think of ways that you can overcome those negative feelings with positive coping mechanisms, like hobbies, self-care, or even therapy.
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