This Indian festival is now a state holiday in California

Schools Can Close and Workers Get Paid Leave

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 268 on October 6, 2025, making California the third state to officially recognize the Hindu Festival of Lights.

Starting January 1, 2026, public schools and community colleges can close on Diwali, and state employees can take the day off with pay. Students who celebrate will get excused absences.

The bill passed with strong bipartisan support, and the timing says a lot about how much California has changed over the past decade.

California Joins Two Other States

Pennsylvania became the first state to designate Diwali as an official holiday in October 2024. Connecticut followed in summer 2025.

California’s law goes further than both by explicitly authorizing school closures and paid leave for state workers.

New York City public schools have closed for Diwali since 2024, but that applies only to the city, not the entire state.

For the nearly one billion people worldwide who celebrate Diwali each year, these recognitions mark a shift in how America treats non-Christian holidays.

First Indian American Lawmaker Led the Bill

Assembly member Ash Kalra co-authored AB 268 with Darshana Patel, who represents San Diego. Kalra, elected in 2016, was the first Indian American to serve in California’s legislature.

He grew up in San Jose celebrating Diwali privately with family and small gatherings. Now he represents one of the most heavily Indian-populated districts in the country.

Kalra said the growing diversity at Diwali celebrations convinced him the timing was right to push the bill forward.

Nearly 900,000 Indian Americans Live Here

California has the largest Indian American population of any state, with roughly 900,000 residents as of 2023. That number grew by 50% over the past decade, while the state’s overall population increased by just 2%.

Most of this growth came from tech and biotech jobs in Silicon Valley, along with family reunification and student visas. Cities like San Jose, Fremont, and Dublin have seen especially rapid increases.

One in five Indian Americans in the entire country now lives in California.

Diwali Means Row of Lights

The word comes from the Sanskrit “Deepavali,” which translates to “row of lights” or “garland of lights. ” The festival dates back more than 2,500 years to ancient harvest celebrations in India.

Written references appear in Sanskrit texts from the 7th century, and Persian traveler Al Biruni documented Hindu Diwali celebrations in the 11th century.

The festival always falls on the new moon in the Hindu month of Kartik, usually sometime between mid-October and mid-November.

Four Religions Celebrate the Festival

Diwali is primarily a Hindu holiday, but Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists also observe it with their own traditions.

For Sikhs, the festival overlaps with Bandi Chhor Divas, which honors the release of Guru Hargobind from Mughal imprisonment in the 17th century.

Jains commemorate the day Lord Mahavira achieved spiritual enlightenment about 2,400 years ago. Some Buddhists mark it as the day Emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism.

The Sikh Coalition worked with Kalra to make sure AB 268’s language included all faiths that celebrate.

The Story Behind the Lamps

The most popular origin story in northern India comes from the epic Ramayana.

Prince Rama, his wife Sita, and brother Lakshmana returned home to Ayodhya after 14 years of exile and Rama’s defeat of the demon king Ravana.

The people of Ayodhya lit rows of oil lamps to welcome them back and guide their way through the darkness.

In southern India, Diwali celebrates Lord Krishna’s victory over the demon Narakasura, who had imprisoned 16,000 women in his palace.

Five Days of Celebration

Diwali spans five days, each with its own purpose. The first day, Dhanteras, is for cleaning homes and buying gold.

The second day focuses on decorating with lamps and creating rangoli patterns on floors using colored powders or flower petals.

The third day is the main celebration, when families gather for prayers, feasts, and fireworks. Day four marks the Hindu new year for many communities, and the fifth day honors the bond between brothers and sisters.

Sweets, Fireworks, and New Clothes

Families wake up early, sometimes before dawn. Many take ritual oil baths as a form of purification.

Children put on new clothes. At dusk, families light rows of small clay lamps called diyas and place them along windows, doorways, and rooftops.

They offer prayers to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, then head outside for fireworks. Neighbors exchange boxes of sweets like ladoos, barfi, and jalebi.

In India, Diwali rivals Christmas as the biggest shopping season of the year.

New York City Schools Already Close

Governor Kathy Hochul signed legislation in 2023 making Diwali a mandatory school holiday for all New York City public schools.

The law took effect in November 2024, marking the first time NYC schools closed for the festival. The city is home to more than 600,000 Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, and Jain Americans.

Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar, who led the effort, called it proof that Diwali is now an American holiday. Several school districts in Westchester County and Long Island have followed with their own closures.

California’s First Observance Falls November 9, 2026

Because Diwali follows the lunar calendar, the date shifts each year. In 2026, the main celebration falls on Sunday, November 8.

That means California will observe its first official Diwali holiday on Monday, November 9.

The Bay Area hosts the largest Diwali celebration in North America, held annually at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton.

Organizers expect even bigger crowds now that the state has given the festival official recognition.

A Message of Light Over Darkness

Diwali’s core meaning stays the same across faiths and regions: light wins over darkness, knowledge defeats ignorance, and good triumphs over evil.

For Ash Kalra, who grew up feeling like his holiday existed in a separate world from his school life, the new law changes what it means to be Indian American in California.

Children who celebrate Diwali can now stay home without penalty, share their traditions with classmates, and see their culture reflected in state law.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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