A Diwali Pooja

Last night I attended a Diwali Pooja at my aunt's cousin's house. It was a small gathering of family and friends.
When we entered the house we had to remove our shoes, and sit or kneel before the home-made shrine. On the shrine, there were silver and gold statues of deities adorned with jasmine wreathes, there were diyas burning(traditional Diwali oil lamps), offerings of sweets and fruits, and a container with silver coins.
The pooja began with the preparation of a pooja tray. The man of the house (in this case, Erica's cousin Harrish) decorates the tray with red ink, he marks an Om, and a Swastika, both sacred Hindu symbols. On the tray, he placed a lit diya, some sweets, a small container of milk.
The container with silver coins is opened, and a series of symbolic ingredients are added. The woman and the man of the house do this first, taking turns adding a pinch of rice, a pinch of sweets, 2 drops of milk, 2 drops of water, flowers, tumeric powder and a dab of red ink, everything must be added with the right hand only, and in a specific order. Then you place both hands into the container and mix all the ingredients with the coins, while silently praying for whatever it is you want on this Diwali. Following the man and the woman of the house, each person attending the pooja does the same ritual, going in order from the eldest to the youngest present. After the money has been sufficiently blessed, it is place on the alter as an offering in return for the blessings of wealth.
Then the Diwali tray with the symbols is adorned with incense and a diya and each person takes turns rotating it in a cirlce in front of the Pooja shrine while a Hindi song "Om Jagga Jai" (forgive my spelling) is being sung. After this everyone kneels before the elders and asks for a blessing, out of respect. Now the pooja is over.
After the Pooja, we had a delicious vegetarian meal, and the host and hostess gave us presents and sweets when we left, which is apparently a Diwali tradition. I was very grateful to be allowed to participate in Harrish & his family's Diwali pooja. It was a strangely spiritual experience, and proves that regardless of what faith you may be, prayer and family are inherently what is most important to these spiritual holidays.