I spoke about the actual colours of navaratri earlier, but all over India navaratri indeed has it's own colours of celebration.
My kids love the dandiya celebrations we have in our society, looking forward to getting decked up in specific colours. When I mentioned to my daughter that I never played garba in my childhood, her eyes were astonished with "then what did u do?" look.
Mind travelled a few decades back in a flash seconds and brought alive My fond memories of navaratri, special puja at home, aarti every night including the long 10 stanza of ambabai, the bhondala that we played with great excitement with all my friends, the sweets and then the orange coloured dassera with marigold flowers everywhere. My father would also take us to mahalakshmi temple during navaratri and Ganesh temple on dassera.
In my husband's family there is a special puja of goddess mahalakshmi in the temple on the 8th day. I love the way the festivities are done there. Big idol of the goddess, all ladies decked up to do the puja, songs being sung without any fanfare by elderly ladies, the night surely has it's own charm.
In North India it's different celebration, a lot of people fast for 9 days, there is a girl child pujan and then ram leela followed by ravan dahan on dassera.
Great fanfare is in Kolkata and in east, where the pujo is a community event. I am awed by the grandeur of the goddesses that are out up and worshipped. The powai Bengali association's Durga puja is a must visit for me during navaratri.
All in all it's all about celebrating the female divine power winning over the devils. Great way to celebrate the victory. While I enjoy the positivities in the air, a part of me is pulled down by the constant violence that women face even today. It's so disheartening to hear about atrocities with 3 such small girls during navaratri, one wants to believe that it's a false news. The demons are all around us, when are we going to win over them! Safety and dignity is what the durga's of today need. They can then achieve almost everything thereafter. Amen!
My kids love the dandiya celebrations we have in our society, looking forward to getting decked up in specific colours. When I mentioned to my daughter that I never played garba in my childhood, her eyes were astonished with "then what did u do?" look.
Mind travelled a few decades back in a flash seconds and brought alive My fond memories of navaratri, special puja at home, aarti every night including the long 10 stanza of ambabai, the bhondala that we played with great excitement with all my friends, the sweets and then the orange coloured dassera with marigold flowers everywhere. My father would also take us to mahalakshmi temple during navaratri and Ganesh temple on dassera.
In my husband's family there is a special puja of goddess mahalakshmi in the temple on the 8th day. I love the way the festivities are done there. Big idol of the goddess, all ladies decked up to do the puja, songs being sung without any fanfare by elderly ladies, the night surely has it's own charm.
In North India it's different celebration, a lot of people fast for 9 days, there is a girl child pujan and then ram leela followed by ravan dahan on dassera.
Great fanfare is in Kolkata and in east, where the pujo is a community event. I am awed by the grandeur of the goddesses that are out up and worshipped. The powai Bengali association's Durga puja is a must visit for me during navaratri.
All in all it's all about celebrating the female divine power winning over the devils. Great way to celebrate the victory. While I enjoy the positivities in the air, a part of me is pulled down by the constant violence that women face even today. It's so disheartening to hear about atrocities with 3 such small girls during navaratri, one wants to believe that it's a false news. The demons are all around us, when are we going to win over them! Safety and dignity is what the durga's of today need. They can then achieve almost everything thereafter. Amen!
Quite a thought provoking post. Loved it.
ReplyDeleteQuite a thought provoking post. Loved it.
ReplyDelete