Stir Cheat Sheet: 3 ways to celebrate like it's an Indian wedding, at Diwali Fest 2023

For Metro Vancouver event’s 20th anniversary, South Asian mehendis, rangolis, live dance and music, and much more

By Janet Smith

Take part in a mehendi ceremony when Metro Vancouver’s Diwali Fest kicks off this week at the Downtown Vancouver Public Library. Photo by Vitaliy Lyubezhanin

FOR ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY celebrations, Vancouver’s Diwali Fest is inviting the public to a grand-scale Indian wedding.

The theme crosses over multiple events for the festival that marks the biggest holiday on the Indian calendar. Traditionally, the celebrations encompass dance, music, and storytelling; fireworks; gifts of sweets; rangolis (traditional floor patterns made of coloured sand or powder); and the lighting of diyas (small clay oil lamps).

Here are three ways you can take part in the fun this year—and show your colours through “wedding” outfits for each. (Note that registration is required; click through the links to secure a spot.)

#1

Sangeet

October 29, 2 to 5 pm at the Roundhouse Arts & Recreation Community Centre

Dulhe-waale (the groom's family and friends) and Dulhan-waale (the bride's family and friends) perform music and dance all afternoon, alongside a family Art and Creativity zone with community rangoli and diya painting. Take part in henna art, a favourite South Asian wedding tradition. And South Asian eats from food trucks on site. Show your colours by sporting hues of red and pink to support the groom and blue and green to support the bride in the festivities.

#2

Sandeep Johal and Sara Khan, Untitled 2, 2019, collage, at the RISE exhibition. Courtesy of the artists. Photo by Rachel Topham Photography

Haldi

November 3, 6 to 9 pm at the Evergreen Cultural Centre

Wear the bright colours of haldi (“turmeric”)—shades of yellow through orange—for this “pre-wedding” music and dance showcase in Port Coquitlam. The name refers to the South Asian tradition, usually carried out a few days before a wedding, of slathering the happy couple in mustard-hued paste, believed to secure a life of prosperity and health for the bride and groom who are about to begin their new life together. Sandeep Johal and Sara Khan will also give an artists’ talk, and audiences can see their latest exhibit, RISE, at the Art Gallery at Evergreen. In that artistic collaboration, the pair conjures a playful and fantastical environment ruled by extraordinary creatures—snakes, horned figures, and animal-human hybrids—in their exploration of the complexities of being South Asian women and mothers.

#3

Baraat & Shaadi

November 5, 2 to 5 pm at Surrey City Hall

Take part in a pretend big wedding day, complete with a celebratory Baraat (wedding procession) and Shaadi (wedding ceremony), as well as a full celebration of lights at Surrey City Hall. As with all South Asian weddings, there’ll be delicious eats, care of food trucks and the Chai Cart. A family art zone features a large communal Rangoli, as well as Diwali-themed crafts. This time, guests are invited to wear sparkling attire. 

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