Davora Blog

It’s hard to miss the festival of Diwali in the UK. In the last few years it’s been celebrated in Trafalgar Square by the London Mayor, in Leicester by, well, the population of Leicester, and it’s even made an appearance on Eastenders. Diwali is the most significant festival in the Hindu calendar, and celebrated by the Hindu and Sikh community all over the world. Let’s take a closer look at this epic festival.

There are a number of origins of Diwali varying across different parts of India. One of the popular reasons for celebrating Diwali is taken from the Hindu Epic the Ramayan, in which Lord Rama returns to his kingdom Ayodyha after 14 years of exile, during which he defeated the demon Ravana. The people of Ayodyha lit oil lamps along the way to light up their path in the darkness – hence the name ‘Festival of Lights.’ In Jainism, Diwali celebrates the Nirvana of the Indian sage Lord Mahavira. For Sikhs, Diwali celebrates the release of a Guru Hargobind Ji from imprisonment by the Mughal emperor Jahangir.

Diwali also marks the end of the harvest season in most of India and Nepal. Farmers give thanks for the bounty of the year gone by, and pray for a good harvest for the year to come. Some businesses start their financial year at Diwali, hoping for prosperity in the year ahead; after all, Diwali is a time of worship, particularly of Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth.

Celebrating Diwali means wearing new clothes, exchanging gifts and Indian sweets (and of course Greeting Cards!) and lighting fireworks. Candles are lit around the home. Prayers are held at home or in local temples, followed by family gatherings and feasts which are much anticipated (just like Christmas dinner!).It is an event that captures the imagination of young and old alike.

The date for Diwali varies each year since it follows a Lunar based calendar. It usually falls around October/November. This year Diwali will be celebrated on 26th October 2011 just a couple of weeks Bonfire Night.  The night sky will be doubly lit up by the two celebrations for a while this year!

Diwali Greeting Cards are as popular as ever. We carry a selection for all tastes, from contemporary to multi-packs. Buy yours now on line at www.davora.co.uk.

We’re almost complete on the move of our warehouse from Ashton-Under-Lyne to Stockport. The new premises will give Davora the space to grow and flourish.

When we started Davora Ltd in 2003, it was literally a cottage industry. We lived in the South (Berkshire) at the time. We didn’t start trading in earnest until 2005, but even then we were operating from the kitchen table. After we moved back to the North West in 2006 (which was home really) I borrowed some space from my Dad in his clothing factory. It wasn’t a massive building, but as he was downsizing, I was growing, so it made sense to use the space that was becoming available.

Not long after I took over the building and turned it into the Davora warehouse and distribution centre – a grand title, but it was still in essence just a small commercial workshop! The business was on a growth path, with more customers, ranges and occasions each year.

We have now reached the stage where we needed premises that were closer to the Davora head office in Stockport (which is also closer to home too! Always important for a small business!). It was also an opportunity to re-organise the stock to make the distribution process more efficient.

I’ll miss the old building, and I know my Mum and Dad will too – after all it’s been the home of the family business for over 20 years.

But I’m also excited about the new start. We’re going to be better organised, have more space, be able to work more efficently and so ultimately be able to bring new and exciting ranges to our portfolio.

Watch this space, as they say!

Rajeev

One of the challenges we face as a specialist Ethnic Greeting Card publisher is keeping on top of the dates of the major festivals.

This is mainly due to the fact that many festivals are not based on the western Gregorian calendar. The Gregorian calendar, adopted in 1752 to replace the Julian calendar, is a solar calendar, based on the movements of the sun. But the Ethnic festivals of Eid, Diwali, Jewish New Year and others are based on the lunar or semi lunar calendars.

We know that the solar and lunar calendars do not synchronise very well. That’s why each month (which represents the time it takes for the moon to circle the Earth) has a varying number of days between 28 and 31. Yet 12 months form a Year, a fixed period of 365 days (not withstanding leap years). A year is the time it takes for the Earth to circle the Sun.

So it follows that the dates of Ethnic festivals change each year on the Gregorian calendar. This poses a number of challenges for us. We need to work out what the dates are for each year, then make sure all our customers have this information to hand too. We do this on our website and we also send out wall planners to our retail, wholesale and export customers too. We’re not complaining mind: the calendar goes up on the wall, quietly advertising us 365 days a year! It’s also an opportunity, as it gives us a reason to contact our customers, and the call is generally very welcome!

There are some rules of thumb that you can use to estimate when the festival are:

Eid – this is the most regular of the Ethnic festivals, as it comes approx 11 days earlier each year. However even within a year, the festival is celebrated on different days (a day or so apart) in different parts of the world, due to slightly different times for moon-rise. In the UK, Eid (and Ramadan) are currently moving further into summer each year. This means the Muslim community fasts for more hours each year, as the days get longer!

Diwali – An easy way to remember this is that Diwali always comes around Guy Fawkes night, give or take a few weeks. Which is convenient, since both occasions make full use of fireworks that are abundantly available at this time of year!

Jewish New Year – This festival is based on the Hebrew calendar, and always falls between the start of September and the start of October.

The easiest way to remember? Bookmark this site!