India, Oct. 22 -- For generations across the Indian subcontinent and its global diaspora, the celebration of Diwali has been guarded by a strict set of unwritten rules, taboos, and ancestral customs passed down primarily by matriarchs. Whether it was a stern warning against picking up a broom after sunset, an absolute prohibition on letting the primary oil lamp extinguish, or a firm insistence on staying awake through the midnight hours, these domestic edicts were never treated as mere suggestions.

While modern urban households may occasionally dismiss these strictures as old-fashioned superstitions, cultural historians and anthropologists note that these time-honoured practices carry profound symbolic, psychological, and spiritual meani...