ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Sewa Sacramento is hosting its second Diwali Parade of Lights in Roseville.
The event is scheduled for 5:30-7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7.
The Sewa Sacramento chapter is part of Sewa International, a Hindu faith-based nonprofit specializing in disaster relief and rehabilitation. The parade of lights will travel about five miles and is part of Sewa Sacramento's month-long food drive to collect food donations and distribute the items to local food pantries and food banks.
The Sacramento Chapter Coordinator, Paresh Sinha, said they decided to do the parade during Diwali to have an active donation event.
"It's a family festival where people come together, and they celebrate with the food and all other good things," Sinha said.
Diwali doesn't fall on a specific date because it is based on the Hindu lunar calendar. It's typically celebrated in October and November. This year Diwali started on Nov. 4.
"The philosophy behind Diwali is to go from darkness to light. And usually, it happens on the darkest night of October or November and we light lamps or candles in the nighttime outside our houses," Sinha said.
Going from ignorance to knowledge as well as service to the community is also part of that philosophy, according to Sinha.
Event details:
Who: SEWA International USA - Sacramento
What: Diwali Parade of Lights
Starting point: 1166 Roseville Parkway
When: 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7.
Register: RSVP here or call/ text (916) 218-9142
Prabhakar Reddy, the Lead of the Parade of Lights in Roseville, said people were very happy to be part of last year's event.
"I want to emphasize that we know how this pandemic everything was, you know, it put us back, but still we try to take this as another opportunity to bring it forward, to enable everybody to you know, join this and we saw that the impact of that," Reddy said.
Sinha said they will be collecting food donations at the Parade of Lights event. To participate, people are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items, as well as cleaning or sanitation products to donate. Since it is a Hindu community event, Sinha said they prefer the food to be vegetarian.
To get involved in the parade, people can register and show up with their decorated cars.
Sinha said people should be mindful not to decorate their car in anything that could block the street and decorations placed on vehicles should be properly secured. Reddy said participants should also be careful not to create too much noise by playing loud music from their cars.
Also, participants should be mindful when choosing lights. For example, not pairing red and blue colors together which could be confused with law enforcement or using flashing lights that could also distract other drivers.
"We don't have any special specific instructions or anything, but just choose your colors wisely," Sinha said.
Last year's parade had about 30 cars and this year they are expecting about 40 cars.
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