The festival of nine nights called Navratri is marked as a
festival of nine avatars of Goddess Durga, who is worshipped over these nine
days in her various forms. The victory of good over evil is celebrated in
unique ways by families across India. The nine days of Navratri bring together
everyone from the family to join the festivities.
Women celebrate this festival in a unique manner, arranging
golus - a setup of nine stairs to place idols & statues of gods, in their
houses. The whole family joins to seek blessings from goddess Durga. The guests
are gifted coconuts, beetle leaves & idols of god as a symbol of the
blessings received from god.
The Andhrite Family:
Women make `Batukamma` -
a seven layered flower arrangement created using seasonal flowers.
'Batuku' in Telugu means life and 'Amma' means mother. Batukamma is thus the
festival devoted to celebrating universal motherhood. Women wear silk sarees
and gold ornaments. In the evening, women place their batukammas in the centre and
dance around them by singing folk songs dedicated to Goddess Shakti. Then they
march towards a lake or any other water body and set afloat their Batukammas.
The kannada Family:
'Navratriya Shubhashayagalu' means happy navaratri in
kannada.The celebrations include procession of elephants on the streets. Fairs
and exhibitions of handicrafts and artifacts are a common feature of
celebration.
The Malayali Family:
Unlike the others, Keralites celebrate only the last three
days of Navratri - Ashtami, Navami and Vijaya Dashmi. Books, musical
instruments are placed in front of Goddess Saraswati’s idol on the day of
Ashtami. The books are worshipped and people pray to the Goddess to seek wisdom
and knowledge. On the tenth day, the books are taken out for reading.
The pujas are held over a ten-day period, which is
traditionally viewed as the coming of the married daughter, Durga, to her
father, Himalaya's home. It is the most important festival in Bengal, and
Bengalis celebrate with new clothes and other gifts, which are worn on the
evenings when the family goes out to see the 'pandals'. Essentialy the Puja
Sharts from sixth day after Mahalaya. On Saptami the seventh day Nabapatrikar-
nine plants are worshipped and a ceremonial bath or Mahasnan is performed,
after which devi is worshipped. On ashtami , Sandhi Puja the most important
event of Durga Puja in which devi is worshiped as Chamunda. On the last day,
Dasami ,the puja rituals ends and the idol is submerged in the river along with
the nabapatrika.
Garbha & dandiya raas mark the flavor of navaratri in
gujarati families. The word Garbha means The Womb, which is the source of life.
Women wear vibrant, mirror-work ghaghra-cholis
and men wear their traditional attire to play garba. The first three
days of navaratri are dedicated to Goddess Durga ,the next three days are
dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi - the goddess of wealth and prosperity, and the
last three are dedicated to Goddess Saraswati - goddess of knowledge, who is
dressed in milky white and mounted on a pure white swan. The whole family gets
together to offer prayers to the goddess. Later they go to play garbha in
traditional costumes that are studded with various jewels & ornaments.
The Punjabi Family:
Most of the Punjabis go on a fast for the first seven days followed by a jagraata
(staying awake whole night ,singing devotional songs dedicated to goddesses).On
ashtami,the fast is broken which is followed by bhandara (a feast that includes
puris & halwa chana).
On completion of the ceremony, girls are gifted red chunris
signifying goddesses’ perpetual presence.
The
Maharashtrian Family:
Many Maharashtrians
go on padyatra (walking to your destination) to temples, worshipping
goddess with pujas & aartis, and some also promise to give up all worldly
luxuries as offerings to goddess.Women invite relatives & close ones to
their houses for haldi-kumkum, where the relatives are greeted with beetle
leaves & bindi that signifies serenity & happiness in the family.
"May goddess Durga bestow her blessings on you and your
family. Wishing you all a prosperous year ahead!"
-Happy family bonding
Team imlee:)
