Every year around October and November, Hindus around the world celebrate Diwali, or Deepavali—a festival of lights that stretches back more than 2,500 years. And in India, the five-day celebration marks the biggest holiday of the year.
Like many Hindu festivals, there isn't just one reason to celebrate the five-day holiday. Pankaj Jain, a professor of anthropology, philosophy, and religion at the University of North Texas, says that the ancient celebration is linked to multiple stories in religious texts, and it's impossible to say which came first, or how long ago Diwali started.
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