Navaratri Mubarak!

Today is the first day of Navaratri - the nine night festival of dance in worship of the Mother Goddess.

Navaratri is normally in October but is early this year (as it's set upon the Hindu lunar calendar) which is quite strange because it doesn't get dark that early yet and I'm used to it being more wintery.
I love this time of year though, as the nights get longer, and all the festivals begin.

What's cool is that next year it should be back in October which means I'll be at Uni then. I'd love to see what it's like in London, and what the Indian soc at ICU put on for it.

Hindus celebrate Navaratri with nine nights of dancing, Gujarati people especially perform Raas Garba - a dance with sticks, and it's a great time for socialising and meeting people - especially for the younger generation anyway.
There's one song from a Bollywood movie that has become the Garba Anthem - everytime it's played people go crazy.
And thanks to youtube here it is:



Dholi taro dhol baaje (Drummer bang your drum) - I just love this clip.
How it's really slow at the start, and then builds up at about 30 seconds in, and then really kicks in at about 1:40 seconds in.
The beats, the beauty, the dance and the excitement - so great!
I think this is more Punjabi style than Gujarati, but the style is similar - colourful dress and dancing in a circle.

We also celebrate by creating powedered artwork (Rangoli) like the one above on our doorsteps, to welcome the Goddess Lakshmi into our homes.

The Stories of Navaratri:

Victory over Mahishasura the demon
Mahishasura, a mighty demon obtained a boon of immortality from Lord Brahma after years of devoted worship.
However, believing himself to be now all powerful, he set out to conquer the three worlds of heaven, earth and hell, and began murdering and destroying the people of earth.
The gods in heaven decided to create an all-powerful being to kill the demon king who was ready to attack them too.
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 was engaged in a fierce battle with the demon king.
On the tenth day - Dassera, Durga finally managed to defeat Mahishasura by beheading him, and thus brought victory over evil.

Rama's Victory over Ravana
Many years later Lord Rama was about to wage war on the evil demon Ravana who had kidnapped the princess Sita and taken her to his capital city of Lanka.
The night before the battle was to begin, Lord Rama performed "Chandi-Puja" to invoke the blessings of Durga.
For nine days and nights a fierce battle raged between the army of Rama, Laxman and the Monkey Warrior Hanuman and Ravana's evil army.
On the tenth day of Dassera, Rama finally defeated Ravana and rescued princess Sita as the city of Lanka burned to the ground.
After vanquishing him, Lord Rama with Sita and Laxman returned victorious to his kingdom of Ayodhya, arriving on Diwali day.

To this day effergies of the 10 headed demon Ravana are burned in celebration of Rama's victory.