Diwali - Festival of Lights; Feast of Color

I've always grouped Diwali with the other autumn/winter festivals - Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa - but I've never had any direct experience with the event. As soon as I entered the Seattle Armory I was delighted with the color and vitality that was just beginning to build. The armory stage was the main focus. I saw the performers but soon I spotted the staging area where performers waited for their turn. I was enthralled. Sitting on my fold-up stool against the concrete walls of the armory I could watch, unimpeded and largely unnoticed as a rainbow of performers chatted, stretched, practiced, watched and waited. 

Later I went upstairs and found cooking lessons, a delightful puppet show, an art room and an enthralling view of the light-filled kandeel (lanterns). 

Hindus in earlier days set kandeels afloat high, a gesture to invite the spirits of their ancestors moving around to come back home and be with them during the festival time; hence the name akasha deepa (lantern of the sky) or AkashaKandil. Wikipedia

As the sunlight flooded the banners it looked to me like they couldn't help but fulfill their purpose.