HOUGHTON -- Diwali, or the Festival of Lights, is an Indian celebration filled with vibrant colors and unique dances.  Students at Michigan Tech have been celebrating this longstanding tradition on their campus for 23 years.

"Diwali is the biggest festival that we have in India. It has a brief mythological history behind it, but we can say Diwali, in short, is celebrated for the victory of goodness over the badness or over the evil,” said student organizer Prasad Kulkarni.

The students shared the legend of King Rama and his wife, Sita, who were sent into exile for 14 years and ended with a battle against the Demon King of Lanka. After the return of King Rama and Queen Sita, the celebration of good over evil began.

During this time, many families in India light small clay lamps filled with oil and light firecrackers to celebrate righteousness. These are called Ghungrus, and performers put them on their feet to bring music to every step.

North, South, East and West India is represented through traditional dance and song, and when it comes to dance, it seems these performers never miss a step.

"It's more or less like you have a different beat. You have a different folk dance or folk song is just part of the steps that our characters take of the region and you just kind of put them together," said performer Rasika Gawde.  

For these performers, practice makes perfect, and they put in a lot of time and effort to make sure everyone enjoyed the show. Their goal was to give everyone a better sense of Indian culture, tradition, and dance. They also wanted people to experience the feeling of Diwali.