Technolandy

Day 33 (of 2025/26) #diwali – a reminder about the fine edge between cultural appreciation and appropriation

As I work on refining my art-love/hate of AI (I am not a good artist – while my kids are… but AI helps me generate what I see in my head… as seen with todays pre #bowtietuesday share honouring: Diwali; Seahawks on Monday Night Football AND the Seattle Mariners playing a game 7 to try to make it to the World Series for the first time in their almost-half-century of existence…

So, I am applying a Diwali inspiration to the logos of two of my favourite sports franchises who are playing big games on the same day!

But as I do not celebrate Diwali, I am very aware of how easy it is to slip away from appreciating others cultures, celebrations, religions, etc – especially in an environment that has systemically done a very good job of making one religion feel more important than others through some easy-to-see-calendar-connections.

I hope to see more schools either honour the day with authentic celebrations (not just colouring sheets) or honour the day by taking a break from formal learning. 

In brief, Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Newar Buddhists, although for each faith it marks different historical events and stories, but nonetheless the festival represents the same symbolic victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance, and good over evil. More than a billion people celebrate today. Thank you to those who are willing to share and teach the rest of us about the Festival of Lights. 

I humbly create my bowtie to show my appreciation of the day – and hopefully also modelling that we honour those in their regalia but don’t wear costumes ourselves (unless invited).