Full of color, festivities, and great food, Diwali (which is coming up on October 19 2017) is one of my favorite Hindu Holidays. On the night of Diwali—a word derived from the Sanskrit for “light”—Hindu families clean up their houses, wear new clothes, and light diyas (little oil lamps) made of clay, brass, or silver. When I was growing up, the diyas in our house were always lit with a wicker dipped in ghee, and we’d place them in the windows and stairways as decorations.