Rangoli

Wow look at that awesome piece of art!!!

Diwali is the Hindu Festival of Light. Rangoli is the traditional art of decorating the entrance to a home to welcome guests during the festival of Diwali.
Traditional Rangoli artists use coloured rice, powdered chalk, sand or coconut with food colouring and a little bit of water to make colourful paint.

After they mix the ingredients they put the large flat plates containing the paint in the laundry. This helps the paint to dry using the underfloor heating.

In the morning they rub the crumbs of the paint between their fingers to make sure there is no lumps in the mix. The children draw their designs on a large board.

The first step is, you take a pinch of coloured coconut and then let it trickle through your fingers, start from the middle of your pattern and work outwards. Try not to get the colours mixed up.

On the day they get dressed up in their favourite salwaar kamez (trousers and tunic).

In India they have competitions to see who is the most artistic, some people even get a Highly Commended Certificate. The Rangoli patterns stay in the hall all day and at the end of the day they are tipped off the boards and swept into the bin.