Oct. 28 (UPI) — President Joe Biden will headline a White House gathering on Monday evening to celebrate the traditional Hindu holiday of Diwali.
The event is to be live-streamed at 5:30 p.m. ET at the White House, during which President Joe Biden is also slated to give remarks for the holiday for his last time as commander-in-chief.
According to the White House, Biden will light a Diya lamp in the Blue Room before giving remarks in a “continued tradition from previous years” to recognize American citizens of India’s vast cultural background and the more than 5M Indian nationals currently living in the United States.
Diwali, a five-day festival celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and Buddhists, is the biggest and most important holiday of the year in India for its culturally diverse population of more than 1 billion people. Each year, it celebrates the triumph of good over evil and light over darkness.
The White House celebration for Diwali is a tradition that dates to 2003 under then-President George W. Bush.
This year’s entertainment will see the traditional Marine Corps Band and Nootana, which is a classical Washington-based South Asian dance and music group.
And Monday’s celebration also will feature a video message from Sunita “Suni” Williams, a NASA astronaut and retired Navy captain on the International Space Station, where in September she became commander.
Last year, Diwali was declared a public school holiday in New York City by Mayor Eric Adams.
The holiday is based on the Indian lunar calendar and falls on a different date each year, typically between mid-October and mid-November.