Navaratri

The festival season is in full swing. In fact, there are so many festivals that I tend to lose track. I went out yesterday and saw many broken gourds in the road, so I knew something was up. I discovered that it was the first day of Navaratri. (One invokes the evil that has accumulated in one's house or shop into a gourd, then carries it out to the road and breaks it. All the evil leaves you and goes into the road. And in fact, the gourds' flesh is slippery, and is a real hazard to bicyclists and motorcyclists.)

Navaratri, during which Goddesses are worshipped in several forms, is going on from September 25 to October 5.

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During Navaratri Gujaratis dance the garba or dandiya-raas, a dance in which one holds a stick (danda) in each hand, and claps the sticks in rhythmic patterns against those held by one's partner.

In Tamil Nadu, people set up kolu stands, seven-stepped platforms filled with dolls representing the world -- gods at the top, mythical beings, humans, animals, etc. lower down. (This link also includes Navaratri recipes -- page down.)

Listen to Gujarati Navaratri songs.

Read advice on how to be popular while performing dandiya-raas.

More here and here.

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