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Hindu Celebration Wraps up with Special Visit in Scranton

SCRANTON — A festival at a Hindu temple in Scranton wrapped up Sunday. Hundreds of people showed up to the temple on Prescott Avenue to welcome the highes...
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SCRANTON -- A festival at a Hindu temple in Scranton wrapped up Sunday.

Hundreds of people showed up to the temple on Prescott Avenue to welcome the highest leader of their church.

Members of the Shree Swaminarayan Hindu temple welcomed a very special church leader to their temple in Scranton.

The church leader is considered a manifestation of god in the Swaminarayan Hindu religion.

Darshan Patel, a volunteer, tells us this event draws quite the crowd.

"We sing, we dance to it, and people on Prescott Avenue have seen it, and people come out and join in," he said.

Once inside the temple, hundreds of people greeted the highest leader before he gave his speech.

People who volunteer at the church are glad to see so many people show up to the event, which has been a tradition at the temple in Scranton.

"Everyone comes from different countries and it's just like a reunion and stuff," said Guatam Patel of Scranton.

Volunteers at the temple said it's important to get the younger generations to these kinds of events because one day they will be running these temples.

"I think the younger generation, they get to learn a lot from the temple and the speeches that go on here and it just keeps us learning going on from the next generation to the next generation," said Parita Ray of Scranton.

Many of the children at the festival tell us it's nice to get together and celebrate their culture.

Parita Ray said dressing up and being with family is her favorite part of the festival.

"Being here and just celebrating it and the mood, it's all just great," she said.

This service and welcoming of the highest leader is the close out to the Hindu festival that started on Thursday.

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