What is Diwali, the Festival of Lights? How is it celebrated in India and the diaspora?

Diwali is the most important festival of the year in India — and for Hindus in particular.

It is celebrated across faiths by more than a billion people in the world’s most populous nation and the diaspora. Over five days, people take part in festive gatherings, fireworks displays, feasts and prayer.

Diwali is derived from the word “Deepavali,” which means “a row of lights.” Celebrants light rows of traditional clay oil lamps outside their homes to symbolize the victory of light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance.

The dates of the festival are based on the Hindu lunar calendar, typically falling in late October or early November.

This year, the holiday is being celebrated on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. In the U.S., Diwali falls on Halloween this year, which has triggered quite a few #Diwaloween memes on social media where some celebrants can be seen lighting diyas in their scary costumes or handing out laddoos to trick-or-treaters.

While Diwali is a major religious festival for Hindus, it is also observed by Sikhs, Jains and Buddhists. The origin story of Diwali varies depending on the region. All these stories have one underlying theme — the victory of good over evil.

In southern India, Diwali celebrates the victory of Lord Krishna’s destruction of the demon Naraka who is said to have imprisoned women and tormented his subjects. In northern India, Diwali honors the triumphant return of Lord Rama, his wife Sita, and brother Lakshmana, from a 14-year exile in the forest.

The festival brings with it a number of unique traditions, which also vary by the region. What all celebrations have in common are the lights, fireworks, feasting, new clothes and praying.

—In southern India, many have an early morning warm oil bath to symbolize bathing in the holy River Ganges as a form of physical and spiritual purification.

—In the north, worshipping the Goddess Lakshmi, who symbolizes wealth and prosperity, is the norm.

Gambling is a popular tradition because of the belief whoever gambled on Diwali night would prosper throughout the year. Many people buy gold on the first day of Diwali, known as Dhanteras — an act they believe will bring them good luck.

Setting off firecrackers is a cherished tradition, as is exchanging sweets and gifts among friends and family. Diwali celebrations typically feature rangoli, which are geometric, floral patterns drawn on the floor using colorful powders. This year, several northern Indian states, including the capital New Delhi, are instituting partial or total fireworks bans to combat rising pollution levels during Diwali.

Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs have their own Diwali stories:

—Jains observe Diwali as the day the Lord Mahavira, the last of the great teachers, attained nirvana, which is liberation from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

—Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas — a day that overlaps with Diwali — to commemorate the release of Guru Hargobind, a revered figure in the faith, who had been imprisoned for 12 years by the Mughal emperor Jahangir.

—Buddhists observe the day as one when the Hindu Emperor Ashoka, who ruled in the third century B.C., converted to Buddhism.

This year, Mattel has released its “Barbie Signature Diwali Doll” by designer Anita Dongre who wrote on Instagram that her Barbie represents “the fashion-forward modern women who wears India on her sleeve with pride.”

In contrast to her earliest iteration in 1996 who was clad in a bright pink sari or the 2012 avatar who was packaged with a “monkey friend,” Diwali Barbie is fashionably dressed in a lehnga, an ankle length embroidered skirt with motifs from Dongre’s home state of Rajasthan, a cropped blouse and vest.

This doll, priced at $40, sold out on day one on Mattel’s website.

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

FILE- An Indian potter makes earthen lamps ahead of Diwali festival in Prayagraj, India, Oct. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)

FILE- Morning haze envelops the skyline the day after tens of thousands of people set off massive firecrackers to celebrate the Hindu festival of Diwali in New Delhi, India, Nov. 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE- Children play with firecrackers during Diwali celebrations in New Delhi, India, Nov. 4, 2021. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri, File)

FILE- An Indian family lights firecrackers to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, in Prayagraj, in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Oct. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)

FILE- People lights firecrackers to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, in Ahmedabad, India, Oct. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

FILE- Hindu women light oil lamps at the Banganga pond as they celebrate Dev Diwali festival in Mumbai, India, Nov. 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE- People crowd a market as they shop ahead of Diwali festival in Mumbai, India, Nov. 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

FILE- A residential building is decorated with lanterns and lights during Diwali, the festival of lights in Mumbai, India, Nov. 12, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

A record 2.51 million earthen oil lamps are lit along the Saryu river during Deepotsav celebrations on the eve of Diwali, creating a new Guinness World Record, in Ayodhya, India, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

Fire crackers and smoke fill the city skyline as a part of Diwali celebrations at Shivaji Park in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2024.(AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)

NEW YORK (AP) — A man who was convicted and then cleared of killing rap star Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC could be freed within days after a judge granted him $ 1 million bond on Monday.

Karl Jordan Jr. wasn't automatically let go because he still faces drug charges unrelated to the pioneering DJ's 2002 death. For now, Jordan remains behind bars while prosecutors decide this week whether to appeal the bond decision. If they don't, he'll go free as soon as his bond paperwork is in order.

“There's a real chance, Mr. Jordan, that you may be released in the very near term,” U.S. District Judge LaShann DeArcy Hall said. If that happens, she added, “I wish you luck. And you will stay out of trouble.”

Jordan quietly agreed as more than a dozen of his relatives and supporters looked on from the audience. Some have attended nearly six years of court dates in his case and 17 agreed to cosign his bond. Jordan’s loved ones also agreed to put up Southern properties worth a total of $525,000. If released, he will be under electronic monitoring.

His lawyers declined to comment after court.

Jam Master Jay, born Jason Mizell, was fatally shot in his New York City recording studio in 2002. As the DJ in Run-DMC, he helped rap reach music's mainstream with 1980s hits including “It’s Tricky” and a remake of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way.” He later mentored up-and-comers including a young 50 Cent.

After the case went cold for years, Jordan and Ronald Washington were arrested in 2020. Washington, now 61; and Jordan, 42, denied the charges.

A jury convicted the men in 2024, after hearing eyewitness testimony that Jordan shot Mizell while Washington blocked the door. But in December 2025, DeArcy Hall unraveled Jordan’s conviction and acquitted him, while upholding the verdict against Washington.

Her reasoning centered on whether prosecutors had proven that the killing was narcotics-related, a requirement of the federal murder charge in this case. Witnesses testified that after Run-DMC’s heyday, Mizell dabbled in cocaine deals to pay his bills and was providing drug-trade opportunities to Jordan and Washington — the DJ's godson and old friend, respectively.

The judge concluded that the jury heard sufficient evidence that Washington was bitter at Mizell about the collapse of a planned drug transaction in Baltimore. But there wasn't such proof, “just conjecture," that Jordan had the same animus, DeArcy Hall wrote.

Prosecutors are appealing her decision to acquit Jordan of Mizell's killing.

Jordan's attorneys argued that he ought to get bond while that appeal and the outstanding drug and weapons charges play out.

Jordan, whose girlfriend is a city jail official, “is not a danger to the community. But his continued detention is a danger to Mr. Jordan," lawyer John Diaz said at a March 13 hearing. Jordan was stabbed and seriously wounded in Brooklyn’s troubled federal jail last year; other inmates were charged with assaulting him.

Prosecutors deplored the stabbing but urged the judge to continue detaining Jordan, maintaining that he remained a flight risk.

DeArcy Hall concluded Monday that Jordan's bond package outweighed concerns that he might flee. But she told him, “At the end of the day, sir, bond is about you giving me your word.”

“Yeah, I'm aware of that,” he replied.

Turning toward the audience, she sought to make sure his family also got the message that Jordan needs to comply with bond conditions.

“You all know I do not play,” the judge warned. “We all understood, folks?”

A collective “yes, your honor” rose from the audience.

Meanwhile, prosecutors are in plea talks with a third man charged in Mizell's killing, prosecutors and his lawyers told the judge in a March 12 letter. The third man, Jay Bryant, was indicted in 2023 after his DNA was found on a hat at the shooting scene. He has pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors claimed that Bryant slipped into the studio building and opened a back door for Jordan and Washington, having met them through a mutual acquaintance. Jordan's lawyers have argued that the case against Bryant raised doubts about the now-dismissed allegations against Jordan.

FIL - In this Feb. 22, 2002 file photo made in Los Angeles, the late Rap legend Jam Master Jay, is shown. (AP Photo/Krista Niles, File)