Today is our festival of lights called Deepavali - Deepa means lights.
To read why we celebrate you can find some info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali though this does not cover everything as each community/region has their own version of the why's .
What it means to us is new dress, lots of sweets and savories, fire crackers and lights/lamps - lights for the season starting from today for a month till we reach another festival called karthikai.
WISH YOU ALL A VERY HAPPY DEEPAVALI once again