NarakChaturdasi

On the eve of Naraka Chaturdasi we must wake up before dawn and bath from head to toe. 'Panchatvakkulu' meaning the leaves of banyan, mango, jivva, atti, naeredu must be placed in the bathing water to purify ourself and do 'Abyangana snanam' (We believe that lakshmi recides in oil and ganga is present in water. So to remove bad vibes we bath with both oil and water.)

During the 'Varaha' Avataram, Naraka was born to Vishnu and Bhudevi and has a boon that he would die only at the hands of his mother. During Aswiyuja Bahula Chaturdhi Sri Krishna and Satyabhama went to fight Narakasura and he died in the hands of Satyabhama who is an incarnation of Bhudevi (Godess Earth) and hence we celebrate the day of his death as Narakachaturdasi and the day after it we celebrate Deepavali commemorating the victory of good over evil and light up fireworks.

Aswiyuja Bahula Tadiya
Aswiyuja Bahula Deepavali