President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a Diwali celebration at the White House on Monday. It was the largest Diwali event in White House history.
According to NBC News, 200 guests attended the event and watched the president light a diya.
“The ongoing story of America, a story that is firmly stamped in the Indian American and South Asian American experience, that’s why we’re here today,” President Joe Biden said in a speech, according to NBC News.
Vice President Harris, who is Indian American, also hosted a reception in honor of Diwali at her home on Friday. White House staffers told ABC News that they “felt seen” when the Vice President invited them to her home.
“I have, personally, such fond memories of celebrating Diwali as a child,” Harris said, according to ABC News.
“… waking up in the middle of the night, me and my sister Maya, and going, of course, to the eldest in our family, which was our grandfather. And then, later in the day, my mother would give us lit sparklers and we would go into the streets to celebrate this very important occasion.”
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