🕯 Happy Diwali: Spice Up Your Diwali Virtual Parties 🥳 With Our Top 10 Diwali Emoji List

In the Western world, the moment October hits, preparations kick into top gear for the spookiest time of the year… Halloween! Kids and grown-ups alike tap into their dark side with scary costumes and creepy Halloween home decor.

 

Festival Of Lights

As this is happening, at the other end of the world, Indians and other Hindu devotees celebrate the opposite of darkness — the presence of light — through the Diwali festival.

What is Diwali? The Diwali festival is a festival of lights, and it is the biggest holiday in India. Haven’t heard of it? We’re sure you have! Maybe you just didn’t know it. Remember the cute lamp emoji you keep posting? The one with the small flame at the left? It’s the 🪔 Diya lamp emoji, an image of a lit Diya lamp, a lamp adorned on every corner of the house during the Diwali celebration.

 

Triumph Of Good Over Evil

Every time-hold celebration has a deeper meaning to it, and for the Indians and Hindu devotees, the sentiment at the heart of the great festival is to celebrate the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness. Hindu devotees express this sentiment in various ways in different regions of India.

Diwali, also known as Deepawali, is the most highly expected of all the Indian holidays and Hindu holidays. It usually lasts five days, and the holiday occurs anywhere between mid-October to mid-November.

 

Most Auspicious Time Of The Year

Think of Diwali as the Hindu version of the New Year, and you’ll probably get an idea of just how big the festival is. But it’s not all just fun and games – prayers and worship mark the celebration, at home and in the office. Religious leaders bless books. People thank God. Many believe it is the most auspicious or favorable time of the year because they believe that Lakshmi, the Goddess Of Wealth And Prosperity, will visit their home temples and bless them with prosperity.

 

The Ultimate Diwali Emoji List

Diwali this year looks very different from the previous Diwali celebrations, for sure, but instead of sulking around, why not make the most out of it? Why not take this opportunity to hold an intimate celebration at home, and during the virtual parties, why not befriend as many people as you can online?

As you do that, why not throw in a Diwali emoji or two in the convo? It will definitely lighten up and brighten up your content! In order to give you a push in the right direction, we made a list of Diwali-related emojis to use to get the attention of other users in your emails, and social media chats and posts.

 

Diya Lamp Emoji

First on our Diwali emoji list is a 🪔Diya Lamp emoji, a colored illustration of a lit Diya lamp. A Diya lamp, also called a Diwali lamp, is a lamp used for worship and decorative purposes. The 🪔 Diya Lamp is believed to bring good luck and prosperity to the home. You’ll see them on building edges and window sills.

 

Twitter’s Diya Lamp Emoji

Last year, Twitter joined in the festive spirit of Diwali with a new Diya Lamp emoji. Unlike other 🪔 Diya Lamp emojis, Twitter’s version came with a very cool feature! It allowed users to control how bright the Diya lamp burns. When you put your Twitter account in light mode, the 🪔 Diya Lamp emoji appears with a small flame, but when you switch to Twitter’s dark mode, the flame on the 🪔 Diya Lamp burns brighter!

Why did Twitter think of this? According to Manish Maheshwari, the Managing Director of Twitter India, “In line with our tradition of engaging people in this conversation and delighting them with innovations, we launched a ‘Lights On’ Diya emoji to represent the joy of the festival of lights.”

We’re sure it did bring a lot of joy to many netizens. We wonder what Twitter and all the other social media giants will surprise us with this year!

 

How to use the 🪔 Diya Lamp emoji:

The 🪔 Diya Lamp emoji is a colored photo of a lamp invented by the Indians. Since it was invented by Indians, it has been a symbol of Indian culture and heritage. You’ll see it mostly in conversations about Indians, the Indian culture, and the overall presence of light.

– Last year, I was in India during the Diwali festival. I bought a 🪔 and I put it beside my bed to remind me that, no matter how hard things may be, good will always triumph over evil.
– After last year’s power outage, I bought myself a pretty 🪔 as an alternative light source in case we lose electricity again.

 

Om Symbol Emoji

Assume the lotus position, take a deep breath, and say, “Om.”

Yes, that is what this symbol means! The ⚛️ Atom emoji or the ⚛️ Om Symbol emoji represents the sacred sound and icon of Om, a mystical symbol of oneness in Hinduism,  Buddhism, Jainism, and other world religions. Devotees of the faith often use this symbol at the start of prayer or holy reading.

Om, the second Diwali emoji on our list, is also said to represent Brahman, the Hindu version of the Christian God. The Brahman is the impersonal Absolute Of Hinduism, the omnipotent, omnipresent source of all life. No one can fully understand a Brahman, that is how big it is.

The ⚛️ Om emoji shows three intersecting ellipses, with a dot in the middle, which signifies atoms circling around a nucleus. It usually appears in topics related to yoga, spirituality, and feelings of inner peace.

 

How to use the ⚛️ Om Symbol emoji:

– When I feel stressed at work, I sit down, take a breath, think of ⚛️ say, “Om,” for 20 seconds, and  I feel so relaxed after!
– Isn’t it so good to know that there is life after death, that there exist beings like ⚛️ looking after us?

 

Palms Up Together Emoji

Taking the third spot in our Diwali emoji list is the 🤲 Palms Up Together emoji, a colored photo of two open, slightly cupped human hands, pointed straight forward in an open position.

Frequently seen in a lot of social media messages, the 🤲 Palms Up Together emoji contains five color variations, 🤲🏻 Light Skin Tone Palms Up Together emoji, 🤲🏼 Medium-Light Skin Tone Palms Up Together emoji, 🤲🏽 Medium Skin Tone Palms Up Together emoji, 🤲🏾 Medium-Dark Skin Tone Palms Up Together emoji and 🤲🏿 Dark Skin Tone Palms Up Together emoji.

The symbol is a gesture of prayer. When you want to tell people you are praying for them, post this symbol! Other individuals use it as a symbol of one’s work with one’s hands, manual work like planting trees or cleaning the house. It is also the American Sign Language gesture for “book.”

How to use the 🤲 Palms Up Together emoji:

– Every day, I 🤲 to God to thank Him for bringing you into my life.
– When I asked my deaf niece what she wanted for Christmas, and she gave me the 🤲 sign, it made me so happy. Very few kids like to read nowadays.
– My 🤲 are so red from scrubbing the floor, and I am okay with that because I want my house to always be clean!
– During the Diwali festival, many Hindu devotees pray with their hands in 🤲 position.

 

Fireworks Emoji

The 🎆 Fireworks emoji shows a firework going off in the night sky. In the primary image, the firework in the emoji is purple, white, and black, but the color and number of fireworks in the emoji vary from platform to platform.

Apart from its obvious meaning, the 🎆Fireworks emoji is also used as a replacement for the word “wow.” It can be a good “wow” or a bad “wow”  like shock, surprise, or happiness at a mind-blowing experience, fact, or event.

How to use the 🎆 Fireworks emoji:

– I look forward to the 🎆 at every Diwali festival I attend. There’s something about fireworks that really brings me joy!
– I can’t believe I won at the Christmas raffle this year. I felt there were 🎆 in my heart when I stood on stage to get the grand prize!

 

Candle Emoji

The 🕯️ Candle emoji grabs the fifth spot in our Diwali emoji rundown. It is a cartoon depiction of a lit white candle with wax dripping. The candle is used as a light source in olden times or when the power is out. Some platforms show the emoji with a metal candle holder.

The🕯️ Candle emoji is used to mark content related to candles, celebrations involving candles, and situations filled with romance. In addition, the symbol is used to mourn the death of someone close to them.

How to use the 🕯️ Candle emoji:

– I love the different 🕯️on display during the Diwali festival.
– We will be having a 🕯️dinner to celebrate my wedding anniversary.
– I go to the cemetery every month to light a 🕯️at my father’s grave.

 

Rainbow Emoji

The 🌈 Rainbow emoji is an illustration of a rainbow, an arch of colors formed in the sky caused by the refraction and dispersion of the sun’s light. People use the symbol to express various feelings of love and happiness, from the mild to the extreme. You’ll also spot the rainbow in topics related to nature, and the brightness and colorfulness of the world. In addition, the rainbow is a symbol related to the myth about the Leprechaun’s pot of gold, which legend says is at the end of every rainbow.

Recently, the 🌈 Rainbow emoji has been used to express gay pride, and is the recognized symbol of people with sexual preferences other than heterosexual.

During the Diwali festival, you will see people decorating their homes with Rangoli, a traditional Indian sand-painted design drawn in rainbow colors. Based on Hindu mythology, the Rangoli brings happiness and merriment in your surroundings. Some offices and homes even hold Rangoli making competitions, for fun, of course!

How to use the 🌈 Rainbow emoji:

– When I was a child, I used to run after a 🌈 because I really believed there was a pot of gold at the end of it.
– I love how Skittles has all these fun 🌈 colors! Every year, I finish a bag and it makes my Halloween all the more colorful!
– I love how my Indian aunty decorates our home with Rangoli, the 🌈 colors fill me with joy every time.

 

Shooting Star Emoji

The 🌠 Shooting Star emoji is a stylized representation of a star falling down in the night sky. Generally depicted as a gold star with five points, with blue motion lines behind it, to make it look like it is moving in a downward motion. You’ll see this emoji in content related to outer space- planets, stars, meteors, etc. It may also be used as a symbol of gorgeousness and beauty, to describe anyone or anything being spoken of.

How to use the 🌠 Shooting Star emoji:

– I looked up at the sky last night, saw a 🌠 and made a wish! I hope it will come true.
– Do you remember NBC’s More You Know public service announcement way back in the ‘90s? It had a beautiful 🌠 logo.
– The bursting crackers that brighten the night sky during the Diwali festival look like 🌠 , don’t they?

 

Sparkles Emoji

The ✨ Sparkles emoji shows a sparkling cluster of three golden, four-pointed stars. One star is bigger than the two others. This emoji is commonly used to express happy and positive feelings. People who want to show love, happiness, beauty, gratitude, or excitement over someone or something use the ✨ Sparkles emoji. Others use the emoji to convey cleanliness or newness.

Star-shaped lanterns made of paper are seen all over India for the whole of the Diwali festival. Since Diwali is a joyful celebration of light, Kandeels, paper, and plastic lanterns, light up the doorways and terraces of people’s homes. On a grander scale, big star-shaped lanterns are suspended above major district and village roads.

 

How to use the ✨ Sparkles emoji:

– Keep your kitchen or bathroom countertop ✨ clean by scrubbing it regularly with soap and water. After that, you need to disinfect it with alcohol.
– The Kandeels shaped like✨ lend a happy vibe to Diwali’s yearly Festival Of Lights. I can’t imagine celebrating Diwali without them!
– I am so proud of my son, his teacher gave him a ✨ stamp for getting the highest test score! In Math, of all subjects!

 

Light Bulb Emoji

Our second to the last symbol on our Diwali emoji list is the 💡Light Bulb emoji, a picture of a lit-up light bulb. It looks pretty much how a light bulb would look like in real life -the glass globe,  at the top portion of the light bulb is yellow, while the metal base is colored gray. People use a light bulb to illuminate offices, houses, and other spaces.

Aside from the light source definition, the💡 Light Bulb emoji is a recognized symbol of getting an insight or idea. It is also used to show a guess, to show that someone is making a guess. Since Diwali is the festival of lights, you’ll see many lights everywhere, including light emanating from light bulbs!

Light bulbs add lighting to a dark space, but that’s not all they can do. We can use them as a source of heat, to direct traffic, etc. Billions of light bulbs are in use every day, some even in outer space!

How to use the 💡Light Bulb emoji:

– I love how all the lights come out to play all throughout the Diwali festival. All the lights, from 🪔 to 💡
– I always jot down the💡 moments in Oprah’s shows, the defining point in time in which a person comes to some realization about themselves.
– After reviewing the installation guide for my new bed a kajillion times, I finally got it! 💡

 

Glowing Star Emoji

Last on the Diwali emoji list is the 🌟 Glowing Star emoji. The 🌟 Glowing Star emoji is a picture of a classic five-point star with rays coming out of it to emphasize its bright light. People use the symbol to emphasize something or someone they think is great or to compliment someone else’s amazing or excellent work.

How to use the 🌟 Glowing Star emoji:

– Good job on the report today 🌟 The boss is happy!
– I love to go out of town just to see the 🌟 in the sky.
– I decorated my room with pretty Kandeels for the Diwali festival, and I used 🌟, one of my favorite star emojis, as a peg!

 

As mentioned earlier, the Coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every holiday this year, including the Diwali festival. This means some things we normally celebrate this time of year are either rescheduled, canceled, or changed. But that doesn’t mean we should forget them!

Apart from joining and taking part in virtual celebrations, there are plenty of safe indoor activities for the family, activities that will make Diwali extra special for all.

 

Diwali Celebrations

To prepare for her visit, people drape Diwali decorations in the form of string lights around their homes. They also clean and paint their houses. Nearly all houses are lit with Diya lamps to welcome the Goddess into their humble abode.

If Diya lamps are not available, some can choose to cut out a Diwali emoji, like the 🪔 Diya Lamp emoji, and paste it on their walls to get into the Diwali spirit. After cleaning their homes, everyone puts on new clothes and performs Ganesha-Laxmi Pujan, a dance to Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god, before they light up their entire home.

 

House Celebrations

Many other ways of celebration include, of course, a party! What would a celebration be without a party, right? Devotees in every part of India welcome the festival with enthusiastic group gestures and group events that last for five days! On the third day of the celebratory occasion, the most important rituals take place, like bursting crackers, lighting Diya lamps and candles, etc. Many homes organize parties with family and friends.

 

Home Feasts

Just like what happens during Christmas, in many house gatherings, family, friends, and colleagues exchange and share Diwali gifts and eat lots of yummy food together! Each meal must mandatorily include different varieties of sweets like Kheer, an Indian rice pudding, Rasmalai, cottage cheese dumplings, and Gulab Jamun, deep-fried dumplings.

 

Diwali Virtual Celebrations

As we all know, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused many events around the world to be postponed or canceled — even national events like the Diwali festival. Don’t expect to see a lot of street parties this time around, but that shouldn’t mean we should cancel the Diwali festival, it will happen, just on a different platform! There will be a ton of fun virtual celebrations for everyone to enjoy.

Some to check out from the comfort of your couch are the Diwali Times Square Facebook page or diwalitimessquare.com, a virtual party organized by full-service event company Event Guru Worldwide.

 

Diwali Activities

Draw Your Own Rangoli

This game has your guests don up their creative hats to craft a Rangoli in just 1 minute. You need to be quick and creative to win. Most participants use markers, you can also use flower petals for a more natural flair. You can play the game in singles or in pairs, and the best design wins! If you want to spice things up, you can ask participants to draw other types of Diwali emoji, like the Diya lamp, etc.

Hunt For The Happy Diwali

In this game, 25 Diya lamps are placed in a tub of water and covered in rose petals. However, only 11 Diya lamps have letters of the alphabet in them. The participants need to look for the Diya lamps with letters and complete the words “Happy Diwali” in a specific amount of time.

Blow The Candles

This game is pretty simple, the participant needs to blow off a lit candle – blindfolded! A specific group of people will be assigned to guide the person blowing the candle or to confuse the person blowing the candle. Sounds fun, right?

Musical Chairs Diwali Style

This is like the usual musical chairs, except the names of crackers are pasted under the chairs, written on slips of paper, and placed in a bowl. The players dance around the chairs, and when the music stops, the participants sit on the chairs closest to them, just like in the old musical chairs or Trip to Jerusalem game.

But when you play it Diwali style, there is a twist! The one playing the music picks a piece of paper from the bowl and announces the name of the cracker. Each contestant looks under their seat, and if the contestant is sitting on a chair with the same name of the cracker pulled out from the bowl, taped underneath his or her seat, the said contestant is automatically out of the competition. When that happens, the participant’s chair is also removed.

 

Conclusion

Whether you celebrate Halloween or Diwali, Hanukkah or Christmas, what’s important is that we should never forget our culture, especially with all that’s been happening as of late. Cultural traditions are important because when we practice them, we share shared values, stories, and goals from one generation to the next.

Once we ignore where we come from, we’re in danger of damaging the foundation of our identity. We lose who we are. If we don’t know who we are, how can we move forward in life?