As the conflict-ridden world gets more fractious and polarised than ever, Unesco, the otherwise largely powerless United Nations’ educational, scientific and cultural arm sees a need to preserve the social histories of its diverse communities
India’s most popular festival Diwali, or Deepavali, comes only once a year, but when it comes, it brings good cheer. Well over a billion people celebrate it in India while the diaspora is spreading it worldwide.
As the conflict-ridden world gets more fractious and polarised than ever, Unesco, the otherwise largely powerless United Nations’ educational, scientific and cultural arm sees a need to preserve the social histories of its diverse communities.
The Durga Puja made the list of Unesco’s intangible heritage list last year and next year it will be the Chhath Puja. Diwali made it to a list of over 700 elements from around the world as the 16th Indian heritage entry that reflects the country’s soft power.
As Indian culture gets global recognition, like with yoga gaining universal popularity and even getting a day marked in the calendar, India must understand the cultural and social power of its heritage is perhaps as great as the spiritual.
It is particularly relevant that festivals like Diwali, which celebrates the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness, are essentially secular in nature, which lends them greater resonance among all the people of the country rather than just people who follow the majority religion. The rituals are as much about family and social bonding as they are about religiosity.
Diwali now sits among the Kumbh Mela and the Garba Dance as cultural elements that are uniting in nature as the intangible heritage list is drawn from oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals and festivals as opposed to rooted heritage like monuments and archaeological sites, etc.
With its rising global popularity, Diwali, a jewel in India’s crown of festivals of many religions, being recognised universally is a matter of national pride, but this must be seen as acceptance of the importance of one of many forces that bind Indians socially.
Many Diwali rituals are charming and must be conserved while the Unesco convention’s message of best practices and safeguarding measures must apply to ensure the safe use of fireworks to make the festival even more celebrated and its relevance durable.
