Diwali in South Africa: A Christian's Guide to Loving Hindu Neighbours Without Losing Your Faith

The Week the Lights Came On

Every October, another set of lights comes on in South Africa. Not the load-shedding schedule this time. Not the jacarandas. The Diwali lights. On the streets of Sandton, in the apartment buildings of Sandtonon, in the shopping centres of Cresta and Sandton City, the fairy lights come out, the diyas are lit, the doors are opened, the boxes of mithai are brought out, the children put on new clothes, and the festival of lights begins.

For five days, the Christian in Johannesburg lives next door to, sits in the boardroom with, waits in the queue at the Home Affairs office next to, and waves good morning to a Hindu neighbour, colleague, teacher, doctor, or friend who is celebrating Diwali. The Hindu colleague brings sweets back from India for the whole office. The Hindu neighbour invites the family over for the Diwali dinner. The Hindu teacher explains to Diwali at school to the children. The lights are real. The food is real. The friendship is real.

The Christian in Johannesburg has to decide what to do with the week. Some Christians answer the week with silence. Some Christians answer the week with anxiety. Some Christians answer the week with a lecture. None of these answers the week well.

This post is for the Christian in South Africa who wants to love the Hindu neighbour well during Diwali, who wants the children to learn to love across religions, who wants to be honest about the differences, who does not want to lose their own faith in the process, and who wants to know what the Bible actually says about the question.

What the Bible Actually Says About Neighbouring Across Religions

The Bible has a great deal to say about the neighbour. The Bible also has a great deal to say about the God who is the God of all peoples. The two together give the Christian in Johannesburg a foundation for the Diwali week that is neither silence nor anxiety.

Leviticus 19:34 — The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 10:18-19 — He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.

Ruth 1:16 — Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your god my god.

Luke 10:33-34 — But a Samaritan, as he travelled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds.

Matthew 5:44 — Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.

Romans 12:18 — If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

1 Peter 3:15 — Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.

Acts 17:26-27 — From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed seasons and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him.

The Bible does not ask the Christian to pretend the differences are not real. The Bible does not ask the Christian to abandon the differences in order to love well. The Bible insists that the Christian love well first, and witness second, and witness only with gentleness, and witness only when asked.

What Diwali Actually Means

To love the Hindu neighbour during Diwali well, the Christian in Johannesburg has to understand what Diwali actually means. The Christian does not have to celebrate Diwali. The Christian does have to understand Diwali.

Diwali — also written Deepavali — means row of lights. The festival is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains across the world, but especially in India. In South Africa, the festival is celebrated most visibly in Durban, where the Indian South African community has been part of the country since 1860, and in Johannesburg, where a smaller but no less committed Indian South African community lives in neighbourhoods like Fordsburg, Lenasia, Sandtonon, and the suburbs north of the city.

Diwali marks several things at once. It marks the victory of light over darkness. It marks the homecoming of Rama to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile. It marks the new year in some Hindu calendars. It marks the goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. It is celebrated with the lighting of diyas (small oil lamps), with fireworks, with the cleaning of the home, with the wearing of new clothes, with the exchange of sweets, with the gathering of the family, and with prayer at the temple or at the home shrine.

The Christian in Johannesburg does not have to believe any of this to honour the Christian. The Christian in Johannesburg does, however, need to know what is being celebrated. To take a box of mithai from a colleague without knowing what the box means is not honour. To take the box and to ask about what the box means is.

What the Christian in Sandton Has Started Doing During Diwali

In the last three Diwali seasons, the Wednesday evening Bible study in Sandton has changed shape during the festival week. We do not cancel the Bible study. We do not change the topic to Diwali. We do, however, change three things.

We begin the Bible study that Wednesday with a moment of thanksgiving for the Hindu colleagues, neighbours, and friends who have been part of our lives in the year. We do not thank God for Diwali. We thank God for the friendship. The distinction matters.

We invite a Hindu colleague to come and explain the festival to the afternoon before the Wednesday evening Bible study. The colleague brings mithai. The colleague brings the diyas. The colleague tells the story of Rama. The study listens. The students ask questions. The children see the diyas. The lights are real. The food is real. The friendship is real.

We pray, at the close of that week's Bible study, for the Hindu neighbours, colleagues, and friends by name. We do not pray for their conversion in that prayer. We pray for their Diwali to be a happy festival. We pray for their home to be a place of light. We pray for the children's friendship to continue. The prayer takes forty-five seconds. The friendship is real. The prayer is real.

What the Children Are Learning in the Process

The Christian in Johannesburg who is also a parent has a particular question. How does the parent teach the child to love the Hindu neighbour during Diwali without confusing the child about what the family believes?

The Bible is clear about this. The Bible does not ask the parent to silence the parent. The Bible does ask the parent to teach the child. The Bible also asks the parent to teach the child how to love well.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 — These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

Proverbs 22:6 — Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Ephesians 6:4 — Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.

The Christian parent can take the child to the Diwali celebration at the school, at the temple, at the neighbour's home. The Christian parent can also tell the child, What we are seeing is a festival of lights. What we celebrate at Christmas is a different kind of light. The light at Diwali is the light of the lamp. The light at Christmas is the light of the world. The two are not the same. Both are real. The child hears both. The teaching is honest. The friendship is preserved.

What the Christian Does Not Have To Do

The Bible is also clear about what the Christian does not have to do during Diwali. The Christian does not have to attend the Diwali puja. The Christian does not have to light the diya. The Christian does not have to eat the prasad if eating the prasad would compromise the Christian conscience. The Christian does not have to pretend the festival is the Christian version. The Christian does not have to lecture the neighbour about the festival.

Romans 14:5-6 — One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind. Whoever regards one day as special does so to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 8:9 — Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak.

Colossians 2:16 — Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.

The Christian conscience is real. The Christian freedom is real. The Christian also has a responsibility to the neighbour. The Bible is clear about both. The Christian has to hold both at once. The Diwali week is a good week to practise.

A Short Prayer for the Diwali Week

Father, you are the God of all the lights of the year. You are the God of the Diwali lights. You are the God of the Christmas lights. You are the God of the candle in the window. You are the God of the light that has come into the world. Help us this week to love the Hindu neighbour as ourselves. Help us to hold fast to our own faith. Help us to witness, when asked, with gentleness and respect. We ask this in the name of the one who said, "I am the light of the world." Amen.

The Week After the Lights

The week after the festival, the lights come down. The fairy lights come off the houses. The mithai is eaten. The new clothes have been worn. The temple visits are over. The diyas are put away for the year.

The Christian in Johannesburg has to decide what to do with the friendship after the festival. Some Christians answer the festival week with a friendship that ends at the festival. Some Christians answer the festival week with a friendship that begins at the festival.

Hebrews 13:2 — Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

Galatians 6:10 — Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

John 13:34-35 — A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

The Christian in Johannesburg who wants to be a Christian after the Diwali lights come down has to keep the friendship. The Christian has to keep the prayer. The Christian has to keep the welcome. The Christian has to keep the Bible study on Wednesday. The Christian has to keep the gentleness. The Christian has to keep the witness, when asked. The Christian has to keep the Jesus, always.

An Invitation

If you are a Christian in Johannesburg or Sandton who wants to think about how to love your Hindu neighbour well during Diwali — or who wants to think about how to teach your child to be both a faithful Christian and a good neighbour — the Wednesday evening Bible study in Sandton is open to you. The Bible study begins at 7:30pm on Wednesday evenings. We meet at the Bible study room in Parkmore. The lights are real. The Bible is real. The friendship is real.

If you are a Christian who is also a Hindu neighbour, or who is also a Sikh neighbour, or who is also a Muslim neighbour, or who is also a Jewish neighbour, or who is also a Buddhist neighbour, or who is also an atheist neighbour, the Bible study is open to you too. The Bible study is for the Christian in Johannesburg who wants to live faithfully in a city of many faiths. The city is real. The Jesus is real. The friendship is real.