In my defense, it was middle school, and it — and everyone in it — was awkward. And I really didn’t know the significance of the holiday — just that we celebrated it. (I think I knew that different people celebrated it differently / for different reasons, but I definitely wasn’t the expert on Diwali she hoped I’d be. And I also felt kind of embarrassed, like I was letting down all of India by not being able to teach everyone about it. The whole thing was pretty embarrassing, actually.)
Today, I can share a lot more about Diwali (but then, today, I’m also the teacher instead of the student, and also, I’m not 12 anymore), so I thought I’d do that here. If I’d known then what I know now, here is what I’d have shared with my teacher and peers… so read on to learn all you might want to know about Diwali so you can teach students about it (plus, some resources for teaching students about it).