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• Taking an oil bath with gingerly oil is considered to be auspicious.
• Members of the household are forced to get up as early as 3:00 or 4:00 a.m.
• The woman of the household takes on the important role of applying the oil on the head, forehead and feet of the members of the household.
• Oil is considered good for the body and since Deepavali is also the worship of Lakshmi, the honour is given to women.
• The act is to remind everyone in the family to treat their mother, wife, sisters and women in general with respect.
• On completion of the task, the members of the family are given Deepavali medicine or marundu.
• The medicine does not comprise of a tablet but is a tasty concoction of herbs and spices that prevent indigestion on account of overconsumption of sweets.
• The medicine is very tasty and is normally made at home.
• This is followed by a sweet.
• Once the bath is over, people wear their new set of clothes which has already been placed near the Gods the previous night.
• The younger members of the family prostrate before the older members and rush off to light crackers.
• People ask each other, Ganga snanam aacha?" meaning Did you have your bath in the Ganges?"
• In other words, what people ask you is whether you have purified your body by having a bath early in the morning.
• People believe that the holy river Ganga finds her way into their bath water to bless them on this important day.
• People visit the houses of relatives and friends asking whether the holy bath has been taken. Then they exchange sweets.
• In addition to sweets, the house would have the aroma of festive cooking, awakening pangs of hunger even from those who had eaten all the varieties of sweets.

In today`s nuclear families, Deepavali is more relaxed. Children don`t want the oil bath and neither do they want to get up early. People go out for lunch and sweet is bought from a sweet shop. Children prefer shampoo to the traditional oil. For those who have enjoyed the traditional Deepavali of yesteryears, it doesn`t seem like a festival any more......