Navaratri

The word Navaratri means ‘9 nights’ and Navaratri is a Hindu festival that lasts 9 nights or 9 days.

Navaratri celebrates the victory of good over evil.

Navaratri is celebrated with puja rituals, along with feasting, fasting, singing and traditional regional dancing, called Garba. This is a joyous occasion for family and friends to unite and rejoice.

Although Navaratri is observed and celebrated differently in different parts of India and it is known that there are 4 seasonal Navaratri celebrations, the festival is more commonly celebrated with Sharada Navaratri in the Hindu month of Ashvin, falling in September or October, which is Autumn in the northern hemisphere and in Spring in the southern hemisphere. 

During Navratri, the story of the goddess Durga defeating the buffalo-headed demon, Mahisha, is celebrated and, therefore, Navaratri ultimately symbolises that however powerful evil can become, it is good that always triumphs over evil. 

The divine feminine, goddess Devi or Durga, is honoured and puja (prayers) are offered for 9 consecutive days.

During Navaratri, the energy aspect of God is celebrated in the form of the universal mother, who is commonly referred to as the goddess Durga (meaning: the remover of miseries) or Shakti ( meaning: energy or power).

The festival is celebrated over 9 days because the nine days give reverence to the Goddess Durga, the Goddess Lakshmi and the Goddess Saraswati, in order to obtain divine grace, knowledge and power. As, the festival of Navaratri invokes that, to have all-round success in life, the blessings of all three aspects of the divine mother are needed 

Navaratri celebrations are, therefore, divided into 3 sets of 3 consecutive days to celebrate different aspects of these supreme goddesses. During the first 3 days, the universal mother is revered as the powerful Goddess Durga, in order to destroy all humankind’s impurities and miseries. During the next three days, the universal mother is revered as Goddess Lakshmi, the giver of wealth. The final set of three days reveres the universal mother as the goddess of wisdom, Saraswati. 

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