Why Don't We Have Diwali Pajamas Like We Do for Christmas?
A year before Diwali, Katy Spada's daughter asked her a question that stopped her. The family wore matching Christmas pajamas every year, a small tradition with its own anticipation. So why, Arya wanted to know, didn't they have Diwali pajamas?
Katy, who now runs Ary + Maan from Seattle, couldn't argue with it. Beautiful traditional clothing for Diwali was easy enough to find. What she couldn't find was something with the warmth of matching holiday pajamas, the kind of thing that makes a night feel like an occasion without anyone sitting still in stiff fabric. "Her question stayed with me because, honestly, she was right," she wrote.
A holiday with its own small rituals
Katy is raising her children in a mixed-culture family. She grew up in America with European roots and a lot of Hispanic influence around her, and she wants her kids to feel connected to their Indian heritage without it arriving as a list of instructions. She pictures Diwali night as a string of small moments: lighting diyas, watching a movie, reading a book about Diwali, taking the family photo, winding down after a long day of celebration.
Why Diwali pajamas, of all things
Because of the other version of dressing up. Every parent knows it: a child tugging at scratchy fabric, asking to change, melting down because the outfit is heavy. Katy loves traditional clothing and says so. She also wanted to keep the feeling of celebration without the fight. Ary + Maan's pieces are made in India with prints inspired by South Asian culture, and the velvet and satin robes sit at the dressier end. She says the pajamas stand for something bigger than sleepwear: that "your traditions deserve celebration too."
A tradition kids get to shape
The part Katy writes about most warmly is not the fabric. It is watching her children help plan Diwali celebrations and explain the traditions to their friends. "It's becoming theirs," she wrote. The best compliment she gets, she says, is "Our kids ask for these every year."
If you want to start a Diwali tradition at home
Diwali's main day is Sunday, Nov 8 this year, and the festival runs Nov 6 to 10. If you want to begin something with your own kids, pick one small ritual that can repeat: light the diyas together, wear the same thing as a family, read a Diwali story before bed, take the photo. Choose the one your kids are most likely to ask for next year.
CULTR carries Ary + Maan's Diwali collection along with Diwali picture books including Diwali Books for Toddlers, Lilu's Rangoli, and The Light Within You. Shop the Diwali collection.
CULTR carries Ary + Maan.
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