Diwali Laxmi Puja 2020: Laxmi Puja takes place on the main day of the 5 day Diwali festival. (File)
The third day of the five-day Diwali festival is celebrated as Laxmi Puja. It is the day when the goddess of wealth, Laxmi, is worshiped to usher in luck and prosperity. This year Diwali, or Laxmi Puja, will be November 14, 2020 with coronavirus precautions, including a ban on firecrackers and muted celebrations.
Laxmi Puja is celebrated as the main festival of Diwali. It is still observed two days after Dhanteras, which marks the start of the Festival of Lights each year. In 2020, Dhanteras falls on November 13 and coincides with Chhoti Diwali, or Narak Charurdashi, which is usually a day later.
In 2020, like every year, Laxmi Puja will be the day of amavasya, or the lunar phase of the new moon when it remains out of sight. The rituals and celebrations associated with Laxmi Puja are different in most parts of India with the common feature of worshiping the Goddess of Wealth.
Diwali or Laxmi Puja is not only a festival celebrated to mark Lord Ram’s return to Ayodhya, and the victory of good over evil, it is also considered to be New Year’s Day in some parts of India, y including Gujarat.
Marked by the lighting of diyas and the bursting of crackers by Hindus across the world, Diwali Laxmi Puja 2020, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, will be markedly different.
Ahead of Diwali 2020, the national green court banned the use of firecrackers across India to varying degrees as increased air pollution could lead to health complications for patients with COVID- 19 and others.
With coronavirus restrictions in place and the possibility of another increase in winters, people are shipping boxes of candy and turning to Zoom is calling for a ‘family reunion’ on Diwali in 2020, as rangolis making becomes the essential activity for the cracker ban.
On Diwali Laxmi Puja 2020, let there be light, rangolis and security.
Mythologically, the goddess Laxmi is said to have emerged from the ocean during the great churning called the Samudramanthan with Kuber, the god of wealth, on the day of Dhanteras – when Diwali begins.
