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| You are here: COL home > Festivals & Religion > Navarathri > Articles > Navarathri | ||||||||||||||||
Navarathri It is that time of the year again - when the women of the house bring down the heavy "trunk potti" bearing all the golu dolls. It is time to clean the house and the dolls and at the same time, go shopping for new dolls. Yes! Navarathri is around the corner! The dolls are usually handed down by the mother to her daughter and some dolls will be in the family for years. The dolls will be dusted lovingly and proudly occupy their positions in the "golu padi" or the steps. The steps are usually make-shift benches and are made of old boxes, trunk cases etc draped with white veshti. Shopping
is a big part of all festivals and this is true in the case of Navarathri
too. One has to buy During Navarathri, the women of the house invite their friends, relatives and neighbours to come to their house and take a look at their golu. It is only womenfolk who are invited, as Navarathri is very much a women's festival. Every day, special dishes are made - sundal is a Navarathri essential. Nine different types of sundal are made each day. Nine different rice dishes are also made. These dishes are served to the guests and when they take leave, they are given some sundal to take back home too. They are also given the traditional thamboolam, along with a blouse piece, a small mirror, a comb and a kumkum container. The ninth day of Navarathri is celebrated as Ayudha Pooja. On this day, the people pay obeisance to the implements (ayudham) they make use of during the course of their life - be it at home or at work. Tools such as scissors, knives as well as every tool of the trade, be it factory machinery or computers, are considered sacred and prayers are offered. This day is also the day of Saraswati Pooja. Saraswati is the goddess of Learning and on this day, an idol or a picture of the goddess is kept along with the books as well as any musical instrument in the house, like a veena or a violin. Prayers are offered to the goddess and children are generally urged to pray extra hard so that they will score well in the exams! The tenth day is Vijaya Dasami. This day marks the winding up of this long festival. On this day, after the evening pooja, the dolls are all packed up neatly in their boxes and taken back to the loft, where they will lie till the next Navarathri.... Other
Articles : Lavanya |
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new dolls, provisions to make 
