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Diwali

Celebrate the festival of lights with the people you love.

A family lighting a row of clay diyas together on their doorstep

A thousand little lamps tonight, each one a wish, each one a light. May every shadow slip away and joy find room in you to stay. Happy Diwali, always. 🪔

Diwali wishes with name, in one paragraph

By IndianWishes ·

A Diwali wish with your name on it is an ordinary greeting card with one thing changed: it says who sent it. Type your name on this page and you get a card that opens with “Asha is wishing you Happy Diwali” instead of a forward from nobody in particular. It is free, takes about ten seconds, and there is nothing to sign up for.

What Diwali celebrated

Diwali is the festival of lights, and the biggest celebration in the Indian calendar. It marks Rama's return to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile, and more broadly the win of light over dark and knowledge over ignorance.

When Diwali falls

October or November, on the new moon of Kartik. The main night sits in the middle of a five-day run from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj.

Most Indian festivals follow a lunar calendar, so the date moves against the Gregorian one each year. For the official dates, the Government of India holiday calendar is the one to check.

How Diwali is celebrated

  • Lighting rows of clay diyas along doorways, walls and balconies
  • Drawing rangoli at the threshold to welcome Lakshmi
  • Lakshmi puja on the main evening
  • Fireworks, new clothes, and boxes of mithai passed between houses
  • Cleaning the house thoroughly beforehand — the part nobody advertises

In the north it is Rama's homecoming; in the south, Krishna's defeat of Narakasura, marked a day earlier as Naraka Chaturdashi. Bengal keeps the same night as Kali Puja.

What people say

Happy Diwali, or Shubh Deepavali.

Putting your name on it

  1. Type your name in the box on this page. First name is enough — no email, no password, no account.
  2. Tap GO. Your card opens with your name at the top, on artwork drawn for Diwali specifically.
  3. Share it. One tap hands it to WhatsApp with the message already written. Whoever opens it lands on this same page with their own name box waiting, so it carries on down the family group without anyone installing anything.

Add your name to a Diwali wish

Straight answers

When is Diwali?
On the new moon of Kartik, so October or November depending on the year. The festival runs five days — Dhanteras, Naraka Chaturdashi, Lakshmi Puja, Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj — with the main night in the middle.
Why do people light diyas on Diwali?
The lamps welcomed Rama home to Ayodhya, and they are lit now to invite Lakshmi in and to mark light winning over dark. A house with no lamp is traditionally a house Lakshmi passes by.
What is the correct Diwali greeting?
“Happy Diwali” or “Shubh Deepavali”. In much of the north you will also hear “Saal Mubarak” around the same days, because the Gujarati new year follows immediately after.
How do I send a Diwali wish with my name on it?
Type your name in the box on this page and tap GO. You get a card that opens with your name on it, and a button that hands the whole thing to WhatsApp. It is free, and there is nothing to sign up for.
Is this Diwali greeting really free?
Yes. No account, no watermark, no upgrade prompt and nothing to install. Your name travels inside the link rather than being stored anywhere.

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