Canucks Celebrate Diwali

The Vancouver Canucks are holding their annual night this evening where they recognize the Hindu festival of lights known as Diwali. For those that may not be up to speed on this celebration, Diwali symbolises the spiritual "victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance" which seems ironic considering the NHL banned the Canucks from wearing their Diwali logo on the ice during warmups. Nevertheless, the Canucks are forging ahead to celebrate this Hindu observance, and the logo seen above will be seen all over Rogers Arena this evening.

The logo was designed by Jessie Sohpaul, and he used a lot of imagery in the design. There's the bird image which is both a peacock and a phoenix, both of which play a big role in the Diwali festival. Clearly seen above and below the Canucks' wordmark, Sohpaul told Tom Zillich of the Victoria News, "The peacock is native to South Asia, and the phoenix represents renewal, a theme of Diwali."

Among some of the other imagery, the paisley represents the lighting of the diyas (oil lamps), the night sky in the background represents the night sky before the lighting of fireworks that's seen during the festival, and the colours are representative of light over dark - a focal point of the festival. In short, this logo is more of a Canucks-themed Diwali logo than it is a Diwali-themed Canucks logo!

This is the seventh time that the Canucks have celebrated Diwali at Rogers Arena, and Jessie Sohpaul intended his logo design to appeal to everyone. Here's Jessie talking about his Diwali logo!


The fact that this logo was banned by the NHL from being worn in the warmups for the game tonight is ludicrous. This is a festival celebrated by many people - Hindus, Sikhs, Buddists, and Jians most notably - that has different meaning for each of those peoples, but all of those celebrations include the rejoicing of the inner light found in all people. In terms of importance, Diwali has the same importance to Hindus as Christmas does to Christians.

Being that the NHL wants to avoid any and all controversy, Jessie Sohpaul's logo won't be worn by the Canucks on the ice this season. I'm happy to talk about it here, though, because I believe learning about other cultures, specifically their celebrations and festivals, is important in promoting inclusion and acceptance. Knowing a little bit about Diwali has allowed me to understand the importance of this celebration to a large portion of the Earth's population and I have a deeper respect for it.

Congratulations to Jessie Sohpaul for having his artwork displayed as part of the Canucks' recognition of Diwali, and here's hoping your year be filled with light, love, and laughter!

Until next time, Shubh Diwali!