Diwali means ‘row of lamps’. Diwali has many religious stories behind it. It starts from Vasubaras. On this day we worship cow. Cow has religious importance in Hindu religion. Then there is Dhantrayodashi (Dhanteras). On this day we worship money. It is also beginning of financial year. Money is not considered bad. In fact it is worshipped to show it’s importance. Then there is Narak Chaturdashi. Lord Krishna killed ‘Narakasur’ this day. So this is celebrated. Next is Laxmi Pujan. Goddess Laxmi gives us wealth, prosperity. Then it is Bali Pratipada. After that it comes to Yama Dwitiya or Bhai Dooj better known, it shows love between brother and sister.

We burn small clay lamps. We hang paper lantern outside the house. Diwali brings lots of celebrations. We buy new cloths. Sweets are prepared, then we have fun with firecrackers. We greet each other and this way Diwali spreads so much happiness everywhere.

—STEP ONE—

Start by cutting off the plug with a pair of wire cutters or a sharp pair of scissors.

—STEP TWO—

Prepare the new cord for use. Cut the cord length and give yourself a few extra inches.

A. Measure 3 inches from the end of the cord. Using the utility knife, slice the center groove, creating two separate strands.

B. Remove 3/4 inch of insulation from both strands with the wire stripper.

C. Repeat the above process on the other end of the cord, unless of course you purchased a cord with the plug attached.

—STEP THREE—

Using the wire strippers, expose about 1/2” of the wires on both strands.

—STEP FOUR—

Join both cords together by wrapping the strands from the old cord to the strands of the new cord.

—STEP FIVE—

For additional strength, wrap a piece of duct tape over joined strands. Use a small enough piece to cover the wires, yet not too big to squeeze through the lamp rod and lamp base.

—STEP SIX—

From the top of the lamp, gently pull the joined cords through the lamp. You may have to squeeze the tape to flatten it so it can pass through the lamp body. If there is a setscrew at the base of your lamp holding the cord, loosen it to allow the cord to move freely.

—STEP SEVEN—

Pull the new cord all the way through the top, giving yourself about 12″ of cord at the top to work with. I cut off the old cord at the taped end, giving a fresh, undamaged end of the new cord.

You can alter the look of a room just by changing a light fixture. So whether you have outdated fixtures and it is time to redecorate, or you’re ready for the usefulness of a combination light and ceiling fan, replacing a light fixture is a great electrical project you can cut your teeth on and the changes can be very dramatic, yet inexpensive.

Most of the steps for replacing a light fixture also apply to ceiling fans or wall fixtures, such as a sconce. Make sure you review the manufacturer’s instructions that came with your fixture; there may be special instructions for a mounting strap or plate that is specific to your fixture.

—STEP 1—

Turn off the power to the fixture at the breaker or fuse box.

—STEP 2—

Remove the light bulbs from the existing light fixture. If you’ll be using them in your new fixture, set them aside in a safe location (well away from where you’re working).

–STEP 3—

Remove the glass bells from the light fixture. Most bells are attached using three thumb screws at the top of the light. Hang on to the bell as you unscrew all three screws. Unscrewing one isn’t enough to release the bell.

—STEP 4—

Wall light fixture vary by manufacturer, but most attach to the mounting plate by one or more cap nuts that can be simply unscrewed with your fingers. Again, hang on to things; when the nut comes loose, so will the light fixture!

—STEP 5—

Carefully pull the fixture from the wall. The wires are still attached (or should be) and while the fixture can probably hang by the wires, if some of the wires are loose, it could drop unexpectedly.

—STEP 6—

Locate the black, white and green wires from the housing box, and confirm that the power is off. Use a circuit tester and test the wires connected to the fixture. If there is no power, proceed on.

—STEP 7—

Rather than fight with the old wiring, it’s just as simple to cut away the wires, as close to the old fixture as possible, to leave plenty of wire in the housing box. This will make attaching the new fixture easier.

—STEP 8—

More likely than not, there will be a mounting plate attached to the housing box. Remove the screws holding this plate in place and remove it.

—STEP 9—

Take a close look at the wires In the box. If the wires are kinked or damaged, cut off the damaged wire. In our case shown here, extra wiring had been added with wire nuts to extend the length. We have plenty of wire in the box, SO we’re going to just remove these “jumpers” and the wire nuts.

—STEP 10—

With the wires exposed, check the tips. If they’re in good shape, then move on to the next step. If they’re crimped, twisted, or the exposed wire is less than 1/2″ long, cut away the end and use wire strippers to strip the sheathing to expose a 1/2″ of new wiring.

—STEP 11—

Your new light likely comes with a new mounting plate. The one shown here is a universal plate allowing an easy fit to most housing boxes.

—STEP 12—

To match the existing box, new threaded bolts are attached to the mounting plate. These are necessary in our case because the housing box is mounted in the wall at an angle, and our new fixture would hang crooked otherwise. Nuts thread over the bolts to hold them in place.

—STEP 13—

The new mounting plate is then mounting In the housing box, using the existing screws. Align the new threaded bolts so they’re level.

—STEP 14—

With the plate mounted, tuck back some of the extra wire into the box. It’s more easily done at this step…

—STEP 15—

Attach the wires from the new fixture to the existing wiring in the box. If you’ve got a friend handy, someone holding the new fixture is a help. If not, a step ladder will do in a pinch to support the light fixture. Attach black-to-black, white-to-white and bare copper (the ground wire) to the same.

—STEP 16—

With the wires attach, push as much of the wire back into the box as possible Then bring the new fixture up to the mounting plate and slip the mounting bolts through the holes in the fixtures base plate.

—STEP 17—

Just like on the old fixture, cap nuts hold the new fixture in place. Screw the first one in place far enough to hold the fixture in place, then screw on the second (and any others if necessary). Screw the nuts in place to hold the fixture snug to the wall at this point.

—STEP 18—

While you can “eyeball” the fixture to decide if it’s level, if you have a real level handy, why not use it? When the fixture is level, tighten the cap screws to hold the fixture tight against the wall.

—STEP 19—

All that’s left is to mount the new glass bells and put the new light bulbs in place.

—STEP 20—

Turn on the breaker and take a look at your new fixture. This thirty minute project can make a dramatic difference in your bathroom, or any room!

You may have a screw that secures it, or you may not. Regardless of which one you have, once you have removed the socket from its seat, you are ready to disconnect the old one and install the new one. And hey, if you are tired of having that type of switch on your socket, be it a pull chain, pull-push switch, or twist switch, now is the time to change that, too.

—STEP ONE—

With the lamp shade and the light bulb removed, take a look at the socket you’re replacing. If it screws down in place on the stem, unscrew it. If a small setscrew holds it in place, remove that and pull the socket free of the socket base.

—STEP TWO—

In our case, the socket snapped onto the socket base. Gently squeeze the socket body and rock it back and forth to release it from the socket base

—STEP THREE—

Slide off the socket shell and insulation cover to expose the terminal screws that hold the cord wires in place.

—STEP FOUR—

Using a screwdriver, loosen the terminal screws and disconnect the wiring from the old socket and inspect the exposed wiring. If it is badly crimped or fraying, trim it off with the wire cutters.

—STEP FIVE—

Remove the old socket base from the threaded rod of the lamp. Usually it is held in place with a setscrew or is screwed down on the threaded rod of the lamp.

—STEP SIX—

Now we decided to replace our worn out, white cord with a new brown one. To learn more about that, jump to the next project. We trimmed the wire of the new brown cord, once it was fished through the lamp, about 12″ to give us plenty to work with.

–STEP SEVEN—

Feed the lamp cord through the new socket base and attach the socket base to the threaded rod of the lamp either by screwing it down in place or by tightening the setscrew to hold it in place.

—STEP EIGHT—

Tie a knot. If after tying your knot the strands are too long, use your wire cutters to cut away the frayed part. Then you will need to expose about 1/2″ of the wire threads by using your wire strippers to pinch and then pull the sheathing off the ends.

—STEP NINE—

Bend the exposed wire into a U shape and wrap the hot (smooth) wire around the brass terminal screw and the neutral (ribbed) wire around the silver terminal screw.

—STEP TEN—

Tighten each terminal screw down with a screwdriver. making sure as your tighten them the wire doesn’t pop out from underneath the screw head.

—STEP ELEVEN—

Slide the socket shell and insulation sleeve over the socket body. They should pretty much both stay together when sliding them back into place. but if not. the white insulation slides on first and then the outer metal shell .

—STEP TWELVE—

From bottom of lamp, gently pull any excess cord through the lamp body allowing new socket to rest inside of new socket base. Snap, screw. or tighten down socket body into socket base and you are finished! Replace light bulb and lamp shade, plug lamp into receptacle and test out your great work.

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But there is one festival, which is celebrated by almost all states of India. That is Deepavali, also pronounced as Diwali in some parts, which is the Festival of Lights. The word Deepavali is derived from two words ‘Deepam’ which means Lamp and “Oli” which means light. On the day of deepavali, people lit lamps all over their home and also burn / burst crackers.

The celebration of diwali has lot of stories associated with it, which differs from place to place. It is celebrated for four days.

The first day is called as Aswayuja Bahula Chaturdasi, also called as Naraka Chaturdasi. “Naraka” was a demon king, who was the son of Bhumadevi (or Bhudevi) otherwise known as Mother Earth. He did a severe penance (thapas or prayers) towards Lord Brahma and got his wish fulfilled, that he should be killed only by his mother. He was sure that no mother will kill her own son. So, he cruelly tortured all living beings, with his immense power. The unbearable saints pleaded Lord Vishnu to save them from the tyranny of the demon. Lord blessed them that he will kill Naraka during his avatar as Lord Krishna.

During the Krishna avatar, Bhudevi was in the avatar of Satyabhama, wife of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna went for a war with Naraka, having his wife Satyabhama as his Charioteer. During the war, Lord Krishna acted as if he got hurt by the arrows of Naraka and acted as fainted. By seeing this, Satyabhama, who was not aware of her Purvajenma (the previous birth), got angry. She took her bow and aimed arrows at Naraka. Being the mother of Naraka, she was able to kill him. The demon king’s live got ended in the hands of his own mother.

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Before dying, Naraka was blessed by Lord Krishna, which gave him Gyaana, the power of good knowledge. He prayed Krishna and asked for a wish that people should celebrate his death as a festival and should not forget him. Lord Krishna blessed him. This is how the festival diwali origined. It is also said as a festival to remove bad (darkness) from your heart, by lighting lamps of knowledge. Hence as a symbolic representation, everyone lights lamp in their home. Also it also teaches the moral, that a parent should punish their children, if they go on wrong path.

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The second day is Amavasya, the no moon day. This day, people perform Lakshmi pooja and offer prayers towards Goddess Lakshmi, who is the Goddess of wealth. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi would be in her benevolent mood on this day and she fulfill the wishes of her devotees. Also, some people believes that it is the day on which Goddess Lakshmi emerged from Kshira Sagara (Ocean of Milk), when the Gods and demons were churning the ocean for nectar (Amrit), which will make them to live forever.

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The third day is “Kartika Shudda Padyami.” The second day celebration is also associated with one more story saying as the day on which Lord Vishnu taught a lesson to a demon king called Bali, but later blessed him because of his good qualities. On this day (Kartika Shudda Padyami), it is believed that Bali would come out of Pathala Loka (underworld) and rule Bhuloka (Earth) as per the boon given by Lord Vishnu. Hence, it is also known as “Bali Padyami”.

The fourth day is referred to as “Yama Dvitiya.” On this day, sisters invite their brothers to their homes and serve them with special dishes and do poojas for their welfare.

In northern parts of India, Diwali is celebrated as the festival to mark return of Lord Ram along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman from his 14 years of exile after killing the demon king Ravana. To commemorate his return to Ayodhya, his people illuminated the entire kingdom with beautiful lamps and burst crackers.

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For the Gujaratis, Marwaris and other business community people, Diwali marks the day for worshipping Goddess Lakshmi and also the beginning of the new financial year. For Bengalis, Diwali is the time to worship Goddess Kali or Durga, who killed the demon Mahishasura, which gave Goddess Durga another name as “Mahishasuramardini”.

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Whatever the stories associated, Diwalis is a reason for family get together in most of the families. It is a reason for kids to enjoy wearing new dresses and bursting crackers. It is a reason for elders to enjoy new dishes and sweets, blessing their younger generation. Diwali is a festival of JOY. This time, it falls on October 17, 2009.

Happy Diwali to one and all. Read here for best Diwali Gifts to Share.