Diwali, also known as the Indian Festival of Lights, may be the newest official holiday added to Utah's calendar next year.

What is Diwali? While the holiday has varying origin stories and can be celebrated in different ways, it is widely known as a five-day festival that takes place sometime between mid-October and mid-November.

SB46, a recently proposed bill Sen. Lincoln Fillmore, R-South Jordan, would officially recognize Diwali every year and allow for the sale and use of fireworks beginning two days before the first day of Diwali and ending on the last day. It's worth noting that in Utah, fireworks are only permitted during the days surrounding Independence Day, Pioneer Day, New Year's Eve and Chinese New Year's Eve.

"There's a large and growing Indian and Hindu community in Utah," Fillmore said. "The India Cultural Center of Utah is in my Senate district, and I just wanted to make sure that we provide recognition for the contributions that that culture makes to the wonderful tapestry that is Utah."

The fate of the American conservative

Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you do — or don't — identify with, many can agree that the Republican Party has undergone significant changes in recent years.

In this in-depth dive into the American conservative, Matthew Continetti, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, aims to answer the question "The Republican Party of the early 21st century is barely recognizable. What is its future?"

"The preservation of the American idea of liberty and the familial, communal, religious and political institutions that incarnate and sustain it — that is what makes American conservatism distinctly American. The right betrays itself when it forgets this truth," Continetti writes.

Read more about the American conservative in the 21st century.

⬆️ This story appears in the January/February issue of Deseret Magazine. Learn more about how to subscribe.

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