The Diwali or Deepavali festival is the Hindu festival of lights that celebrates the victory of light over darkness. Diwali – celebrated in many countries all over the world – doesn’t have a fixed date and this year it happens to begin on November 11th. Similar festivals like Yalda and the Roman Sol Invictus were celebrated in ancient Europe and there are probably many more examples to be found in other cultures. It is all about light and the people you love.

At Elektor.Labs we play a lot with light and LEDs and every year we dream up new circuits that have no other purpose than to please the eye. For Diwali we propose a lamp consisting of 11 red, 11 yellow and almost 11 green LEDs placed in a circle (32 LEDs in total). The LEDs are controlled by an ATmega328 microcontroller (which is the same as the one used on an Arduino Uno) that you can program yourself.
 
Elektor.Labs Diwali diya

BTW, did you know that November 11th is Singles’ Day in China? That it is Armistice Day in many European countries to commemorate the victims of World War I? That the Carnival season begins? That Demi Moore was born on 11/11?  Do you need any more reasons to power up our 11-11-almost-11 LED circle?

Happy Diwali!