By the way, Happy Diwali! You can read more about Diwali here. Growing up in Eastern Kentucky in the 80s, I didn’t really encounter much discussion of the festival of lights. 
It wasn’t until I was in college that I heard of it.
I hope everyone has a sweet and safe Diwali.
{ 71 comments… read them below or add one }
Matt, thank you for your Diwali wishes. I look forward to reading your posts on this very informative blog.
Ha ha .. that is funny
Seeing a Happy Diwali wish on an American guy’s blog, when I am trying to tell my lab what it is all about ..
Cool
kinda strange we found this picture in wikipedia’s article about Diwali…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:DiwaliSwastika.jpg
Strange for it has a common occidental sense and another in hindu culture
Happy Diwali…
Happy Diwali to all – I hope your Indian colleagues find time to treat you and others with mouth watering delicacies!
Regarding Swastik, read here – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
“…it symbolises the victory of good over evil, and lamps are lit as a sign of celebration and hope for mankind.”
So does Google have a closet full of lamps for the day they finally eliminate all spam from it’s index?
This is a HUGE surprise, seeing you mention Diwali here. I’m not Hindu but I do have Indian ancestry since my country has 50% East Indian ancestry.
It’s great to know that your mind’s open to festivals like Diwali and I join you in wishing our Hindu brothers and sisters Shubh Deepavali.
I’m hoping that the Indian/Hindu engineers at Google have had the opportunity to put their most important festival on display at the company. I’m looking forward to seeing the Google logo tomorrow.
ps. Aren’t Indian women just gorgeous? Just do an image search for Mallika Sherawat and you’ll see what I’m talking about
I thought Chanukah was the festival of lights.
Ah well. What do I know about religion, anyway?
Thanks. Wishing everybody a Happy Diwali.
Happy Diwali to you to Matt! And all the people around the world who celebrate it!
Happy Diwali to you too Matt and all at Google and fellow webmasters.
Those who don’t know Diwali, it is the Christmas of India, biggest of all festivals. The actual name is Deepavali, and Diwali is the anglicized form.
Cheers! Matt.
Orkut guys have done a logo for Diwali.
Every Day Google Lights up more life for people around the world. Diwali is a festival of Lightning Up lives. Happy Diwali to all googlers google employees and everyone out there.
Happy Diwali.
Thanks matt for good wishes! And same to you! In case you wish to celebrate, just light a candle or 2 outside your door.
Attracts the goddess of prosperity!
Bye
Happy Diwali !
It is really nice to see you wishing all the world a happy diwali. I am in Kolkata, India, a place where Diwali is created with Kali Puja. Every house is decorated with light. Sweets and crackers are in much demand.
Happy Diwali to all
Aji
Thanks for the dose of enlightenment – I had not heard of Diwali.
Its amazing that globalization is causing matt to blog on Diwali
BTW karim, swastika is a traditional hindu symbol, You would find it all over india.
Happy Diwali to you too , Matt .
Happy Diwali Matts. I got your greetings through RSS and it was impressive when your square said Happy Diwali on my Personalized Google Homepage.
Wish you a very very happy Diwali Matt and also other people. Diwali is one of the most pleasating and joyful festival of the Indian culture. It is even more joyfull than it seems in that picture.
Akash
“It wasn’t until I was in college that I heard of it.”
Ah, so there was a time before you knew everything! I knew it!
There’s a large Indian population where I come from, so, I’ve enjoyed the lights for a long time…good people, good fun–good times.
Happy Diwali everybody!
Thanks Matt, b.t.w you have 10 errors in your xhtml validation…..lol
Thanks Matt.
Diwali is a festival of light celebrated to sybmolize victory of good over evil.
Happy Diwali to you, Matt and all visitors.
I didn’t know the Diwali festival. Happy Diwaly to all, specially the Indian people who could communicate with their familys for free thanks to http://voice.yahoo.com/diwali/
A good gesture by yahoo.
Happy Diwali Matt… I think you should try your hand on some of the Indian Sweets.. I would recommend kaju-katri it made out of Cashew Nuts.
Happy Diwali to all.
Image observation made my Karim is very interesting though. But that sign used commonly here for traditional decoration esp in the form of Kolams (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kolam) and has nothing related to the more popularized sign.
What a surprise, Matt! Hope you got to celebrate Diwali in true Indian style. Hmmm…the world is getting smaller these days.
Happy Diwali to you too Matt and to all the people who celeberate it around the world!
Its an awesome festival and a great time to drop in on your indian friends for some delicious food and general merriment
Matt:
Maybe Eastern Kentucky has neglected Diwali, but wanted to let you know that it’s alive and well in Louisville. I went to yoga yesterday morning and heard all about it from the studio owner, a fellow NYC transplant, who was celebrating with friends last night. The Commonwealth misses you!
Best,
Matt
Happy Diwali Matt and all readers of this blog.
Being an Indian living in a foreign country, I shared ‘What Diwali means to Indians?’ with some of non-Indian friends using pictures. You can also get a better idea about how the festival is celebrated
http://www.google-success.com/diwali/Diwali-Celebration.htm
PS: I have no intention to spam – just share my culture
It seems we are in “celebration” mode these days
Happy Diwali to those friends who celebrate it.
And I see our Muslim friends celebrating tomorrow Monday their Eid Al Fitr. Wish you Eid mubarak!
seosutra, I did share some Indian sweets on Friday.
Thanks for sharing Matt. Google Success those were great pictures to get the idea across. I love the colors!
Thanks.
Some thing new I have learned.
Happy Diwali. and many more.
On Diwali we burst flowerpots.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1277281254658833198
Happy Diwali Matt
Matt, Thanks for the Deepavali wishes and Wishing you and all folks at Google – “A Happy and a Prosperous Deepavali”.
Ha, it an eye opener hearing that so many people haven’t heard of Diwali. I’m not suggesting that you should, but I guess it demonstrates the ethnic diversity of Britain (England in particular).
Even though I’m a Christian I presumed everyone knew about Diwali. Growing up around Leicester and Birmingham in England it’s celebrated almost as much as Christmas.
Happy Diwali to you and all Googlers!
A Happy and Prosperous Diwali to all!
Cheers,
Nirav
How do you feel about this?
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/15814954.htm
I feel like it sucks.
You guys and your weird holidays. Strange strange people
This is supposed to be an awesome spectacle! I wish I could go see it in person. I have heard about it the past few years and it’s supposed to be incredible. Growing up in Tennesse I can’t believe I never went to see them.
I am floored. Does this guy know everything about everything or what?
Although a couple days late for Diwali wishes – Happy Diwali to you and all your readers
Louisville Matt, I’m glad that the word is getting around in Kentucky.
Bob Rains, I’ve been checking out opensecrets.org lately. Politics is entirely new area for me, so I’ve got mixed feelings about Google starting a PAC.
I hope everyone had a good Diwali.
Light, nemesis of darkness. dispeller of ignorane & metaphor for gud. harbinge of peace & joy. celebrate light & LIFE. – HAPPY DIWALI ( Deepawali )
Happy Deepawali to all Googlers. I really feel glad when I saw the Deepawali posting on the Google Guy website.
Dear Matt,
Remember, today is an other festival, this time its Eid, so don’t forget to wish happy Eid
Hey Matt,
I think you should visit India on the occassion of Diwali or Dussehra some time because these are one of the pleasantes festivals of the Indian culture.
Akash
If political parties don’t get their donations from Google, they’re going to get the donations from somewhere else anyway and kowtow to that someone else’s whims.
At least if a party is backed by Google, at least we know the devil we deal with vs. the devil we don’t.
So I’m okay with it personally, if only for that reason (well that, and being in Toronto, it won’t have that much impact on me yet.)
I guess with any huge financial growth views change just thought it was interesting that…
“Out of 145 contributions from Google executives and employees in the past two years, all but four went to Democrats and liberal groups”
Yet the Google PAC
“is contributing to three Republicans, including two of the most endangered GOP House members”
“recently signed up two lobbyists, Connie Mack and Dan Coats, who are former GOP senators”
“expanding lobbying team, with solid GOP credentials”
and
“also retained Ben Ginsberg as a legal adviser. Ginsberg, a top lawyer at the Patton Boggs firm, was legal counsel to the Bush-Cheney campaigns”
On the upside I guess this gives us something other than webspam, linkbait, and sneakers to chat about at PUBCON Vegas.
Matt,.. I am really happy to read your Diwali Wishes.
It’s not only the festival of lights ,.. its the day when evil was overcome by good using lights,.. hmmm life and light concept in Hindu Mythology.
And a very happy diwali to you too, Matt. And to all readers of this blog.
Matt… I am really impressed with your wealth of knowledge of other culture. Happy belated Eid and Deepawali to everybody over here.
Hi Matt !!
Was a real surprise seeing a Diwali Wish on often SE related blog.
Diwali was great here in India .
Happy Diwali and Happy New year
Wishing you a very happy diwali to you too…dude…
Manish
In certain countries like Malaysia, we are actually celebrating Diwali as Deepavali and Hari Raya (Muslim new year) at the same time. In short we call it Deeparaya. This year is the last Deeparaya season, till about 20 years later where this dual celebration will occur again.
Too bad this year i’m in Hong Kong during this season, i’m beginning to miss the Indian desserts like muruku….
Happy Diwali to everyone, and i’ll better start sending belated greetings via ecard at http://www.eonenet.com/e_card.htm
In the UK we will soon have our own festival of light and it takes place on the 5th November… It’s called Guy Fawkes Night or ‘Bonfire Night’ to commemorate stopping the Catholic plot of Guy Fawkes and his cohorts from blowing up the British ‘Houses of Parliament’.
Traditionally ‘a guy’ is made by children and symbolically placed on top of the bonfire to represent Guy Fawkes… this guy is gruesomely allowed to burn… Satyrical humo(u)r is still commonplace as effigys of present day politicians are made as guys… Twenty years ago it was common that guys were constructed with a very keen likeness to Margaret Thatcher… including her famous handbag!
The evening air on the weekend closest to November 5th, as well as the day itself, is full of the smell of bonfire smoke, fireworks and the noise of excited children… It’s a wonderful time for the kidlets in us oldies too! Traditional food are ‘bangers’ (sausages), jacket potatoes (baked), bonfire toffee, toffee apples and the wonderful flapjack and parkin… which are rib sticking types of cookies and cakes made from oats and lots of sugar and butter… designed to ward off the claggy, cold and foggy evening air.
I’m based in Loughborough Leics England which is only 9 miles from Leicester. Both these towns have a very strong Hindu community and the towns always have the streets decorated for the Diwali celebrations. To keep costs down the cecorations are left up until after Christmas so both Christians and Hindus are happy. The Leicester celebrations are the largest outside India so you can tell it looks good. Most people who move to this area tend to think the Christmas decorations are put up early until it is pointed out to them that it is two different celebrations combined to save costs.
Happy Diwali
John,
Get noisy at night at the moment with the firework celebrations though.
Hey matt,
Thanks man! you care a lot of us.
BTW, Have you heard Anything about Dev Diwali?
Wishing you and your family the same.
Vinod
Wow, I guess you learn something new every day
Its kind of belated… but still in the festive mood.
Happy Diwali.
Diwali is not an anglicised form of the Sanskrit Deepavali. It is known as such in Bombay and Gujarat. Diwa = lamp, wali = a row.
Hally Diwali to you all, Nice see diwali greeting at mattcutts blog. I am so happy.
Thanks,
aiswarya-rai.blogspot.com
happy Deepavali!!! ( belated ) very infOrmative,. it just that i cant imagine this “it symbolises the victory of good over evil”… Thanks’ for the info.
Do you think ‘Diwali’ deserves distinction, fame and recognition?
Today I thought to share something very interesting, with you – something which is truly worth reading and responding. ‘Diwali’ our festival truly demands distinction, fame and recognition all around whole world – doesn’t it. Will you help it get that? I bet you will do this.
Freedom of religion is a hallmark of United States of America. The U.S. Postal Service has befittingly honored Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Eid by issuing commemorative stamps depicting these festivals. And now, USPS (US Postal Service) is considering the issuance of stamps for the Diwali festival as it has great significance for us Indians; but here, it needs 500,000 signatures to have a stamp release. So, I would kindly request you to sign and support this cause.
Join me and request the USPS to issue a postal stamp commemorating ‘Diwali’, the festival of lights at http://www.jantaraj.com/petitions/default.asp?pid=664 Many have already joined me and I know you too will do the same. (copy n paste the link in your browsers address bar, if it doesn’t work from here)
Please share this information with all the ones you know to make this dream turn a reality.
Your friend,
Simran Khan.
OMG !! I’m reading this blog after almost a year … didn’t knew that matt would mentioned about this …
Anyway .. Merry Diwali 2007 to you ..
and start sending diwali greetings to your indian colleagues http://www.cyarena.com/comments/india/diwali/
HAPPY DIWALI TO ALL!!