This year, Diwali and Halloween both fell on Oct. 31, marking a unique cultural juxtaposition. What made this day really interesting for those who take pride in celebrating both, was deciding which holiday to celebrate first. Both festivals celebrate two contrasting themes: Diwali celebrates the victory of light over darkness, while Halloween indulges in the mysteries and allure of the darker side. So, the day was essentially a balance of honoring the light and embracing the darkness.

Diwali is one of the most important religious festivals celebrated by Indians worldwide. India is a melting pot, rich in diverse cultures, religions, languages, people and traditions. It is the one religious holiday that all Indians, regardless of what religion and traditions they follow, celebrate and use to bring everyone together. The crux of Diwali as a holiday is the idea of following dharma (duty) in the face of good, bad, evil and darkness. So, when night falls, everyone lights up a diya (or a candle) to illuminate the victory of good (represented by the light) over evil (represented by the night).

Since both Halloween and Diwali are celebrated at night, this past October it became difficult to celebrate both holidays at once. For some Indians, celebrating Halloween on the day of Diwali can be considered sacrilegious. So the idea of these two holidays coming together on the same day was a bit of a drawback for those celebrating both. While Diwali is not always on Oct. 31, the rare overlap made it feel like something was missing given that each holiday could not be fully celebrated in its own right.

While a rare occurrence, the experience of this day highlighted the personal choices that had to be made for self-fulfillment. As an Indian myself, I thought celebrating Halloween on the day of Diwali was a bit odd, especially since I have grown up looking forward to Diwali every year. Being a first-year in college, this was set to be the first time I was not present with my family and friends to celebrate Diwali. Around this time, the atmosphere is always lively and celebratory—being present for the Saraswati Puja to start the celebrations, lighting up firecrackers and the anticipation of eating mouthwatering Diwali sweets and savory snacks, such as chakli, anarse, shankarpali and kaju katli. I wanted to relive that experience at college on the day of Diwali, so my friends and I created our own version of Diwali by eating out, dressing up in our traditional Indian clothes and calling our families. We also wanted to acknowledge Halloween, so we visited the on-campus haunted house in Eldred Hall. While it wasn’t a traditional Halloween or Diwali experience, we created our own version of it and, well, we loved it anyway.

Going into the festivities, I was confused about what holiday to celebrate. Should I honor the culture of the place I reside in or should I honor my heritage and ethnicity? Could I possibly honor both? Battling through these questions was difficult before I eventually came to the conclusion that I get the privilege to celebrate two fun holidays on this day.

Will such a day ever come again? Maybe four, 10 or even 100 years from now. But through this holiday reflection, I found myself genuinely considering the value of each holiday and why we celebrate them, rather than just celebrating for the sake of it.

Overall, the Diwali and Halloween mash-up was a weird day but definitely a memorable one.