During Diwali — the Indian Festival of Lights, beginning October 18, 2025 — Sammamish parents Kunjan Kapoor and Nitin Mehrotra celebrate through three kinds of gifts, each symbolizing a different part of the holiday’s meaning.
In India, memories of the five-day festival include buying food, decorations, and worship items at bustling markets that are open both day and night.
The First Gift
Each day of the five-day festival brings a new kind of giving — for faith, for joy, and for family. One item on many shoppers’ lists was a gold or silver coin – if you had the means. This would be placed on the home altar the following day, an offering for the Goddess Lakshmi. This is the first gift, intended for worship.
So revered is the goddess that Mehrotra remembers being put to work as a child the day before, cleaning his family home until not a speck of dust remained.
“Diwali is supposed to be the day when the goddess of wealth and fortune visits your house,” he chuckled. “So you don’t want to take any risks with her!”
The Second Gift
The third day, families decorate with lights and marigold flowers, arranging oil-filled clay lamps called diya all around their houses, to be lit once darkness falls. In the evening, they gather to worship both Lakshmi and the elephant-headed Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, with prayers, songs, and the offering of precious metal.
“Then you start moving from one house to the other, exchanging gifts,” said Mehrotra.
Dried fruits and melt-in-your-mouth Indian sweets, fancy chocolates, or gift hampers would be given to neighbors, friends, and relatives, meant to be shared by entire households. These are the second gifts, given “out of happiness,” said Kapoor.
Want to bring some Diwali sparkle to your own home? Try these festive paper crafts to celebrate Diwali — they’re easy for kids and a beautiful way to honor the Festival of Lights.
The Third Gift
The fifth day of the festival is when Mehrotra and Kapoor would traditionally celebrate bhai dooj, the third form of gifting, and one that takes place between siblings.
“Sisters put tilak [a colorful decorative mark] on their brother’s forehead,” said Mehrotra. “In exchange, brothers promise to the sisters that they will always protect them.”
He and Kapoor now live in Sammamish with their son Ashank and daughter Taavishi. They practice bhai dooj with a modern twist.
After all, said Mehrotra, “some sisters don’t like to be told that they need to be protected. Sometimes it’s the other way around, and it’s the sisters protecting the brothers!”
Strengthening the Sibling Bond
Instead of focusing on protection, the children look forward to bhai dooj “because it’s one way to bond,” Mehrotra said, explaining that it’s a playful occasion filled with banter.
These days, neither of them has to brave a crowded market to find each other gifts. Instead, like most modern consumers, their mother reports that “they order online for each other.”
Kapoor and Mehrotra have also modernized Diwali in one other way. “We mostly do Christmas lights,” Mehrota laughs. But in many respects, they try to keep it traditional.
“We like to continue whatever we have been doing in the past back in India and in our childhood days,” said Kapoor. “It just keeps us connected to our roots,” agreed Mehrotra. “What I have realized is that we celebrate our festivals better here, compared to what we were doing back in India.”
Sharing Family Values
They are part of a large Indian community in greater Seattle, so Diwali is jam-packed with potlucks, parties, and performances.
“Because there are so many families, typically that entire month is Diwali for us!”
In addition to all the fun, Kapoor and Mehrotra also hope their children learn the values that the holiday represents.
Both grew up in Uttar Pradesh, a northern Indian province where Diwali commemorates a legend from the Ramayana, when Lord Rama returns victorious to his hometown after 14 years in exile, having vanquished a demon king and rescued his kidnapped wife. Upon learning of his return, his people lit lamps to guide him home.
For Mehrotra, this story is at the heart of the celebration. “This festival keeps reminding us that you just do your best and then eventually good overcomes evil.”
Looking for ways to join the celebration? Check our Seattle’s Child family calendar for Diwali festivals, performances, and community events happening around the region.
