Navratri

Yay! Im so excited, Navratri starts tomorrow!

Im going to try and make an effort to go out and celebrate this year.

Navratri is a nine day Hindu festival when Hindus thank and pray to the Mother Goddess.
There are two stories about the origin of Navratri...

Victory over Mahishasura the demon
Mahishasura, a mighty demon obtained a boon from Lord Brahma that he could not be killed by any man in the world.
However, believing himself to be now all powerful, he set out to conquer the three worlds of heaven, earth and hell.
The gods in heaven decided to create an all-powerful being to kill the demon king who was ready to attack them. The trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva united their powers to create to a female warrior-goddess Durga.
Dazzled by the divine beauty, Mahishasura proposed the Goddess for marriage but was instead challenged to a duel.
For nine days and nights, the Goddess battled the demon king. After these nine days and nights, the demon king was exhausted and Durga won victory on this tenth day by beheading him. The nine nights came to be known as Navratri, while the tenth day was called Dassera, the tenth day that brought the triumph of good over the evil.

Rama's Victory over Ravana
A second story tells of in the Ramayana when Lord Rama performed "Chandi-Puja" to invoke the blessings of Durga to kill Ravana.
Ravana the 10 headed demon had abducted Lord Rama's wife, Sita, to his capital city of Lanka. Lord Rama with the help of his brother Laxman and the monkey warrior Hanuman, rescued Sita from Lanka.
Dassera marks the triumph of Lord Ram's victory. After vanquishing him, Lord Rama with Sita and Laxman returned victorious to his kingdom of Ayodhya on Dassera day.

Leicester always delivers when it comes to Navratri, lets hope this year's no exception.