| Description |
The festival of Diwali in India is celebrated by different communities in different ways, performing different rituals. It is a festival of lights celebrated by Hindus, Jains, and Sikhs, and usually lasts for five days.
The Sindhi community in India celebrates Diwali for just three days. One of the distinctive features of their celebration is the worshipping of a haatdi. Haatdi is also worshipped by a few Gujarati communities.
“Haatdi” comes from the word haat and symbolizes a shop. People worship it mainly to invoke the blessings of Lakshmi (the goddess of abundance and auspiciousness) for work or business, praying for their business to prosper. A haatdi is a colorful representation of a shop. There are some who believe it used to represent the male members of the family who were the breadwinners. The number of haatdis bought was equal to the number of male members in the family, with one being for the female child. Nowadays they are usually bought in pairs of two, four, six. After Diwali, the haatdi is immersed in water.
The making of clay haatdi begins on the day of Ganesh Chaturthi, which is regarded as auspicious and usually falls in August or September. The people of a particular community in Ahmedabad are involved in the making of haatdis, with the whole family taking part. They even travel out of Gujarat to states like Maharashtra to make and sell their wares. Haatdis are made and sold until Kaali Chaudas (the second day of the five-day festival of Diwali).
A demonstration of the process of making a haatdi was given by Mr. Chaturbhai, Mr. Varshrambhai, Mr. Bharatbhai, and their families at their place in the lane opposite APS International School in Ahmedabad. Even I enjoyed trying my hand at making a haatdi during this experience organized by India Heritage Walks and led by Mr. Keyur Shah. |
