Let there be light across the city

Aishwarya Raman, 11, lights Diyas in her family home during last year's festivities. Picture / Richard Robinson

If you've ever seen a Bollywood film, you'll know exactly how vibrant and colourful an Indian celebration can be. There's no bigger event on the Indian calendar than the Diwali Festival.

Diwali - meaning "row of lamps" - is the festival of lights and traditionally marks a time when families come together to celebrate their hopes for the future.

In Auckland, the Auckland City Council and Asia New Zealand Foundation are adding to the festivities with the fourth annual Diwali Festival of Lights. The free family festival kicked off last night at Britomart with the first of two free concert nights. The second concert gets under way at 6pm tonight.

This weekend will host two days of festival activities, running from 11am till 10pm, and will include an assortment of traditional Indian entertainment, crafts and delicious delicacies.

For the photographically inclined, the Auckland Festival of Photography invites locals to capture the vibrancy of the Diwali Festival for their new series, LIGHT. Selected photos will be displayed during the LIGHT exhibition in June next year.

See asianz.org.nz