When is Navarathri?
Navarathri falls on different days each year in the Western calendar as it is calculated based on the Hindu calendar. Typically, Navarathri happens anytime between mid September and mid October. It falls after about one month after Ganesh Chathurthi and about three weeks before Diwali.
When does Navarathri happen in…..
2015 - Navarathri starts on October 13 and ends on October 21
2016 - Navarathri starts on October 1 and ends on October 9
2017 - Navarathri starts on September 21 and ends on September 29
2018 - Navarathri starts on October 9 and ends on October 17
2019 - Navarathri starts on September 29 and ends on October 7
2020 - Navarathri starts on October 17and ends on October 25
How is Navarathri Celebrated?
While Navarathri is celebrated slightly different in different parts of India The final three days of Navarathri (Durgashtami, Mahanavami and Vijayadashami) are celebrated across India. These days are set apart for the worship of Goddess Saraswati – the Goddess of wisdom and learning. Students at this time keep their books and other study materials in the pooja room and temples as part of the worship. While school and college students tend to have all nine days off as a holiday, some colleges and schools that don’t may assure the day of Vidyarmbam as a holiday as Hindu students would not be reading or touching books on this day. During this period ayudha pooja (worshipping of vocational tools) is an integral part of the Navarathri festival. In this ritual, devotees worship their work tools by keeping them in the pooja (worship) room and temples. Householders will pay homage to tools like mixie grinders, vacuums, televisions, computers and other appliances which will be decorated with kumkum and/or turmeric. Also, those who own vehicles will perform a blessing or puja on them. People will wash their vehicles, may update or refreshen their paint, and decorate the vehicles with flowers and other decors. Each state or region in India celebrates it slightly different. Let’s look at a few different ways Navarathri is celebrated in different parts of India.
Kerala
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| Author, Jennifer Kumar, celebrating in Palakkad, India. |
Cities in Kerala: Kochi (Cochin), Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), Kozhikode, Kannur, Thrissur.
Tamil Nadu
Some families will dress up their daughters (and sometimes young sons) like goddesses for one or more days of this festival. For the entire duration of the holiday, some homes will also display a golu or a set of odd numbered steps with dolls and statues depicting different religions, cultures, or village scenes. While now a days many of these dolls can be bought at the store, traditionally families used to handmake these dolls. Some families will prepare for this festival months in advance. For families that display golu, they may invite others over every day to view the golu. Typically, golu viewing is restricted for ladies. Visiting homes may include eating one of nine varieties of sundal, receiving a thamboolam with a mirror, comb and other items as shown to the right (click here for more information), and participating in classical singing. Sundal is a fried snack made of different kinds of grains or beans. Some varieties include green gram sundal, chenna dhal sundal, peanut sundal, moong dhal sundal, corn sundal, and my personal favorite, chickpea sundal (pictured, right). More about Navarathri:
Memories of Navarathri in Tamil Nadu by Padmini Natarajan.
Cities in Tamil Nadu: Chennai (Madras), Kanchipuram, Madurai, Trichy, Coimbatore, Kanyakumari
West Bengal
Cities in West Bengal: Calcutta (Kolkata)
A similar celebration to the one in Calcutta happens in Mauritius. Read more here.
How can we wish our Indian counterparts on this holiday?
"Happy Navarathri" is a wide spead English greeting.
"Shubh Navarathri" Hindi (North India)/Malayalam (Kerala). This is written in Malayalam in the first image of this blog post.
Related Posts:
2016 Calendar - Holidays - India & USA
A foreigner's view of Navarathri in Chennai
Photo credit from top to bottom:
Shubh Navarathri in Malayalam: Jennifer Kumar
Car blessing: Balu Velacherry
Golu in Palakkad: Krishna Kumar
Thamboolam: Raji Muthukrishnan
Sundal: Srivalli Jetti
Devi (photo at the top): Vidianand Baree
Golu by Jennifer: Krishna Kumar
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