Marking the beginning of autumn is the nine day festival of ‘Navratri’, literally translating to ‘Nine Nights’. Observed in the honour of the Goddess Durga, this festival celebrates the victory of the Goddess over the buffalo demon, ‘Mahishasur’ to bring back peace to the world. The festival, although celebrated across the country, takes different forms of celebration in each region. In the northern region, the nine days are for praying and fasting, and for the numerous plays that happen in every small lane, depicting the battle between Lord Ram and the demon king Ravana. After the nine days of reenactment, the tenth day is Dussera, another major Hindu festival, where the effigies of Ravana and his brothers are burnt ending with a sky full of fireworks! The western state of Gujarat, on the other hand, celebrates Navratri by dancing the nights away in a special dance form called ‘Garba’. In the eastern part of India festivities are big with giant idols of Goddess Durga being worshipped for nine days and then taken to be submerged in water on the tenth day in a jubilant procession. The festival is known as ‘Durga Pujo’ in this region. Down south, the celebrations are for not one, but three goddesses - Lakshmi, Durga and Saraswati, worshipped for three days each. Gifts of coconuts, clothes and sweets are exchanged between the friends and family too.
Irrespective of what its called or how its celebrated, the nine-day lead up to Dussera, which then culminates into the grand finale of Diwali, is a time of festivity and fun across the country!
