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What are your favorite things about Navaratri?

  • Thread starter Thread starter BostonSankara
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Golu, golu and more golu! prasadam, sundal, temple visits etc. I remember when I was little I used to love visiting the ladies homes with my mother. I especially loved that they would give us "presents" of sorts with kumkum, blouse piece, tumeric and especially a comb and mirror (which my mother would let me have). I sure did collect lots and lots of combs and mirrors! :D

The thing I didn't like about these visits was that I had to sing....and was extremely shy to sing in public!
 
That's wonderful amala, thanks so much for sharing!
 
Lot of activities in these ten days. Some take it as religious function and some as social gathering.

Something nice about these ten days is that we get different sorts of sundal to supplement our dinner.

Some celeberate this by reading Devi Mahathyam as per the rules ; some do all types of homas,
like srisukta homa, srividya homa, navachandi homa and even sahasrachandi homa.

Some are interested in grand arrangement of kolu to win local community awards - the best kolu etc.

In Gujarat, raas garba is given importance, some traditional, some disco type. Now more of boys and girls
meeting point !

In Bengal this is a very important festival for Durga/Kaali, done with religious fervour.

Many vareities.
 
At our local peetam we had navavarana puja, chandi path parayanam, and chanted the lalitha sahasranam archana, deepardhana, and arati for the first 8 nights then on night nine (tomorrow night) we are having maha chandi homam, kalasa puja , poorvanga puja, bhairavar yogini bali, adyaya homam, kanya suvasini, sumangali puja, sowbhagya dravya samar panam vasvadhara, poornahuti, upacharam, and aarati. Other than Sivaratri it is my favorite time to be at the temple,.
 
Dear Boston Shankara,

I am smiling reading your posts.

Nice to read how much you enjoy yourself praying.

But I do not have anything to share about Navaratri cos it was not really celebrated at my home.
When I was young all I remember is parents just having some small time family bhajan..nothing really special...now my parents do not really have any specific prayers too besides daily prayers.

Mostly for Navaratri that's the time I take out my Devi Mahatmyam and read it.
 
amala said:
Golu, golu and more golu! prasadam, sundal, temple visits etc. I remember when I was little I used to love visiting the ladies homes with my mother. I especially loved that they would give us "presents" of sorts with kumkum, blouse piece, tumeric and especially a comb and mirror (which my mother would let me have). I sure did collect lots and lots of combs and mirrors! :D

The thing I didn't like about these visits was that I had to sing....and was extremely shy to sing in public!
Click to expand...
hi amala,
the avani avittam really enjoyable as brahmachari or young boys in our village as young boys.....navaratri really for nice young

girls in paavadai with daavani,,,,,nice to hear music from young gals....it was really golden age in agrahaaram life....now life

with ipad/itunes.....full of imac/iphone.....still the old is gold always.....the golu with tanjavur chettiar bommai with nadaswaram party

dolls never come back again .....now a days i like gujarati raas garba here.....just traditional gujarati...nice gals with choli dress
 
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Renu, even in my house we didn't do anything except small poojai and stuff fr Navratri as my mum was a working mum she wasn't able to do golu. She said once you start its supposed to be every year or something? I'm not sure. Anyway my "pedamma" (periamma) used to have golu and so thats how we would go and participate and help. Also my mami (dunno why we used to call atha in telugu!) was our music teacher so we had to go and sing and stuff there as well. And other tb ladies would have golu so just followed my mum to their homes.
 
TBS garu,

Baaga cheputhare...good you enjoy garba. I'm not a fan of garba, dandiya etc. Its ok. Actually i saw some. I quite like how Durga Puja is celebrated with all the Dunuchchi Nach, Bangal style! I haven't seen it in real though...only on you tube :(
 
amala said:
Renu, even in my house we didn't do anything except small poojai and stuff fr Navratri as my mum was a working mum she wasn't able to do golu. She said once you start its supposed to be every year or something? I'm not sure. Anyway my "pedamma" (periamma) used to have golu and so thats how we would go and participate and help. Also my mami (dunno why we used to call atha in telugu!) was our music teacher so we had to go and sing and stuff there as well. And other tb ladies would have golu so just followed my mum to their homes.
Click to expand...


Dear Amala,

But for most people it's quite grand scale and temples will be full especially for Lakshmi Pooja day.

In India when I was a student.. for Saraswathy Pooja students used to crowd the temple and some will also fight with us who did not attend the Saraswathy Pooja.

Some students will say "I did so much Pooja and how come you all scored higher when you all did not attend the Pooja?"

Then we had Dandiya and we all used to join in and dance.

So it used to be fun in India cos we got to dance but Dandiya is more where people get to meet each other and not really a prayer.

I remember once I attended a Bhajan outhere for Navaratri where Sumangali Pooja was also being done and one Chinese divorcee wanted to take Kum Kum and prasad and all the Sumangalis there did not allow her.

That was really a bad scene..poor thing.
 
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In North India the South Indians celebrate Navrathri with religious & social fervour...The Golu in our Ganeshji temple at Gurgaon is very famous..Besides Homamsin the morning , the evenings cum alive with cultural programs-Carnatic music both vocal & instrument solo, Bharathanatyam performances and the Sundal prasadam...

The Devi is bedecked in different forms on the 9 days...

Really enjoy the Navrathri celebrations with gusto!
 
Favourite things 'were' and not 'are'

Visit and admire the 'golu' in most of the houses in the neighbouring streets, ask for sundal-prasadam with a loud chorus, compare notes with other boys for the best sundal-home to visit.

Spend lot of time, energy and money in setting up gardens, mountains, fountains and toy trains as a supplement to the main golu.

Navaratri was essentially a ladies celebration, our role was limited to helping the ladies in fetching and carrying.

BostonSankara said:
What are your favorite things about Navaratri?

My favorite things are the Chandi Homam on the last night and of course the prasadam!
Click to expand...
 
To give some of you perspective my experience of learning Sanatana Dharma has been almost fully directed through the temple. Where many (most?) Indian Born Desis (IDB's) grew up with rich traditions of home based worship and the temple was an occasional place to visit, I on the other hand used to go more than once a week and my teachers were all temple priests and particularly South Indian Brahmins. So our experience of the Dharma is certainly a little different. That said it is still our collective eternal dharma just expressed slightly differently :)

The first time I witnessed golu I was FASCINATED! I had no idea what was going on. I was (of course) at our Murugan Kovil in Landham, Maryland. An entire stepped facade had been built in front of a main wall of the first room you enter before the Mahaapitha (?) of the temple. It was amazing and I happened to have brought a child with me to pray (a young girl) who was more excited than me for sure upon seeing the display. This is the beauty of having a large Tamil population in your area. You get several homes worth of golu concentrated in one display in your cultural center :)

While not growing up in an Indian family I certainly have missed out on a lot of home worship (though I worship at home myself for sure) I cannot possibly express the great gift god has given me leading me to being born into this body in this country and yet still placing me into the hands of the the Adisaiva for my spiritual education. I hope and pray that throughout my life I am successful in bring the masses of faithful back into the temple. I fear that as time has passed, caste problems escalate,and politics enters the realm of Indian Religious Culture further clouding the waters that people have continued to draw farther and farther away from the temple.

The temple is not just the house of god's it's the center of our people. I once had a conversation with the wonderful Sri (Prof.) S.P. Sabaratnam about the function of temples. It is his believe that the temples and the continual worship within them support the entire universe by helping to keep it stable and harmonious with particular regard to environmental stability. Is this not all our responsibility? The days of the purohit were the days of kings with sullied hands from conquest and death. I believe we all need to stand up and realize that we too are channels to bring god's love and shakti into this world. Thank God for the Brahmins who maintained civility and integrity in the Dharma during such harsh times. Thank God for civility amongst the majority of men and women that will allow us passage into a new yuga eventually. But first and foremost thank God for those bright Twice-Born who blind to color and caste yet with utmost discretion transmit the ancient and preserved ways of approaching the lord and his shakti to all.

Jai maata di!
 
BostonSankara said:
To give some of you perspective my experience of learning Sanatana Dharma has been almost fully directed through the temple. Where many (most?) Indian Born Desis (IDB's) grew up with rich traditions of home based worship and the temple was an occasional place to visit, I on the other hand used to go more than once a week and my teachers were all temple priests and particularly South Indian Brahmins. So our experience of the Dharma is certainly a little different. That said it is still our collective eternal dharma just expressed slightly differently :)

The first time I witnessed golu I was FASCINATED! I had no idea what was going on. I was (of course) at our Murugan Kovil in Landham, Maryland. An entire stepped facade had been built in front of a main wall of the first room you enter before the Mahaapitha (?) of the temple. It was amazing and I happened to have brought a child with me to pray (a young girl) who was more excited than me for sure upon seeing the display. This is the beauty of having a large Tamil population in your area. You get several homes worth of golu concentrated in one display in your cultural center :)

While not growing up in an Indian family I certainly have missed out on a lot of home worship (though I worship at home myself for sure) I cannot possibly express the great gift god has given me leading me to being born into this body in this country and yet still placing me into the hands of the the Adisaiva for my spiritual education. I hope and pray that throughout my life I am successful in bring the masses of faithful back into the temple. I fear that as time has passed, caste problems escalate,and politics enters the realm of Indian Religious Culture further clouding the waters that people have continued to draw farther and farther away from the temple.

The temple is not just the house of god's it's the center of our people. I once had a conversation with the wonderful Sri (Prof.) S.P. Sabaratnam about the function of temples. It is his believe that the temples and the continual worship within them support the entire universe by helping to keep it stable and harmonious with particular regard to environmental stability. Is this not all our responsibility? The days of the purohit were the days of kings with sullied hands from conquest and death. I believe we all need to stand up and realize that we too are channels to bring god's love and shakti into this world. Thank God for the Brahmins who maintained civility and integrity in the Dharma during such harsh times. Thank God for civility amongst the majority of men and women that will allow us passage into a new yuga eventually. But first and foremost thank God for those bright Twice-Born who blind to color and caste yet with utmost discretion transmit the ancient and preserved ways of approaching the lord and his shakti to all.

Jai maata di!
Click to expand...

Dear Boston Sankara,

A truly beautiful post.
 
Dear Sankara,

I have quite a lot to share about Navarathri then and now - that is in my childhood in our village and now in SingArach Chennai!

Shall write after finishing today's pooja! :)
 
Raji Ram said:
Dear Sankara,

I have quite a lot to share about Navarathri then and now - that is in my childhood in our village and now in SingArach Chennai!

Shall write after finishing today's pooja! :)
Click to expand...

Dear RR ji,

I can't wait to hear the stories too....finish the Pooja and come fast can't wait to Blah Blah Blah!LOL
 
I have come to realize that during Navaratri many women become extra ordinarily charged with some "Energy"..I wonder is it the vibes of Shakti in the air or anything else?

Especially when they start singing Aigiri Nandini you can really observe the upward rise in their energy levels which sometimes last for a few days too.

I don't know why but as a child when saw this I used to feel a bit scared too and hence never attended bhajans on Navaratri after that.

It is just too highly charged and I could not feel a calming effect.

Sometimes I wonder with all the extra energy around would we be able to hold a bulb as to light it up?
hands-holding-light-bulb-uid-1180601.jpg
 
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BostonSankara said:
To give some of you perspective my experience of learning Sanatana Dharma has been almost fully directed through the temple. Where many (most?) Indian Born Desis (IDB's) grew up with rich traditions of home based worship and the temple was an occasional place to visit, I on the other hand used to go more than once a week and my teachers were all temple priests and particularly South Indian Brahmins. So our experience of the Dharma is certainly a little different. That said it is still our collective eternal dharma just expressed slightly differently :)

The first time I witnessed golu I was FASCINATED! I had no idea what was going on. I was (of course) at our Murugan Kovil in Landham, Maryland. An entire stepped facade had been built in front of a main wall of the first room you enter before the Mahaapitha (?) of the temple. It was amazing and I happened to have brought a child with me to pray (a young girl) who was more excited than me for sure upon seeing the display. This is the beauty of having a large Tamil population in your area. You get several homes worth of golu concentrated in one display in your cultural center :)

While not growing up in an Indian family I certainly have missed out on a lot of home worship (though I worship at home myself for sure) I cannot possibly express the great gift god has given me leading me to being born into this body in this country and yet still placing me into the hands of the the Adisaiva for my spiritual education. I hope and pray that throughout my life I am successful in bring the masses of faithful back into the temple. I fear that as time has passed, caste problems escalate,and politics enters the realm of Indian Religious Culture further clouding the waters that people have continued to draw farther and farther away from the temple.

The temple is not just the house of god's it's the center of our people. I once had a conversation with the wonderful Sri (Prof.) S.P. Sabaratnam about the function of temples. It is his believe that the temples and the continual worship within them support the entire universe by helping to keep it stable and harmonious with particular regard to environmental stability. Is this not all our responsibility? The days of the purohit were the days of kings with sullied hands from conquest and death. I believe we all need to stand up and realize that we too are channels to bring god's love and shakti into this world. Thank God for the Brahmins who maintained civility and integrity in the Dharma during such harsh times. Thank God for civility amongst the majority of men and women that will allow us passage into a new yuga eventually. But first and foremost thank God for those bright Twice-Born who blind to color and caste yet with utmost discretion transmit the ancient and preserved ways of approaching the lord and his shakti to all.

Jai maata di!
Click to expand...
hi sankara,
i very close to Murugan temple/SSVT in Lanham , Maryland.....i know many ppl there....MTNA is unique culture of indian /srilankan

tamils....they have nice arupathumoovar uthsava moorthis....typical south indian temple...i visited many times....
 
BostonSankara said:
While not growing up in an Indian family I certainly have missed out on a lot of home worship (though I worship at home myself for sure) I cannot possibly express the great gift god has given me leading me to being born into this body in this country and yet still placing me into the hands of the the Adisaiva for my spiritual education.
/QUOTE]
Click to expand...

Dear Sankara,

You have not missed anything by not growing up in an Indian family.

Being an Indian is not always a launching pad to knowing about home worship.

For some, home worship might just be a daily routine without understanding the significance.

Most important thing we need to remember that lifestyle might differ from place to place but being spiritual is what being a true human is all about.

We must never forget that Sanathana Dharma is Universal and does not belong to India alone.

India has done well by maintaining it for the whole world so far.

You are indeed blessed.You have both the bhakti and the jnaana.A rare find indeed.

You are a shining example for many of us.

God bless you always.
Click to expand...
 
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Navarathri in our village...

The word Navarathri brings lots of nice memories to me! Our village will have a festive look. All mamis and girls

will be clad in colorful silks. That was the time to display all the lovely dresses we have with us! Tiny tots - both

boys and girls - will have 'maRu vEsham' like Krishna, Rama, Gopika and so on. They go to invite the ladies to

receive 'manjaL kunkumam'. Mamis will be given blouse bit, 'vetrialai - pAkku', coconut, banana, bangles, tiny

mirror, small comb and a 'chundal' packet prepared for that day. Girls will be given fancy bangles, imitation gold

chains as special gifts.

It was a pleasure to make those 'chundal' packets. Old Tamil magazines were reserved for this purpose. Full

sheet of 'Kalkandu' or half sheet of 'Kalki' were the specials. Full 'Anandha vikatan' sheets were used to make

bigger packets for mamis.

Most of the 'Kulus' will have nine steps. The white 'vEshtis' of mamas will vanish suddenly from their almirahs,

before Navarathri, to cover the steps made by using benches and old boxes. Children will be busy bringing sand

bags to make a park, as a part of the Kolu. In some houses, clay hills will be made to resemble Palani or

Thirupathi. The Lord at the top will indicate which hill it represents! Rangoli kOlams were special in a few

houses. Shells of different colors and sizes will occupy the last step of the 'Kolu'.

All the not-so-fortunate boys loved Navarathri because they will get 'chundal' / 'poRi kadalai' from all the

houses where 'kolu' is kept. Some used to show both their hands to get double share! One day, all the 'chundal'

packets and whole lot of 'poRi kadalai' was over by 8 p.m and two boys came late! My cousin brother found one

'poRi' and made it into two halves and gave one each saying that they can have only that much for the day! I

still remember the expressions on the faces of those boys!

Now comes the singing part of the Kolu. Every girl will present a song with or without sruthi alignment! Some

girls used to test our patience while singing! We sing in all the houses we visit and those days the favorites

were 'MAmavathu Sri Saraswathi' and 'Sarasija nAbha sOdhari'.


There were three Amman temples and one Shiva temple. All the Ammans and Durga Devi in the Shilva temple

will have special alankArams on all the nine days. Each house will bear the expenses for a day's alankaram and

they will get the first prasAdham on their day!

:dance:

 
Raji Ram said:

Navarathri in our village...

The word Navarathri brings lots of nice memories to me! Our village will have a festive look. All mamis and girls

will be clad in colorful silks. That was the time to display all the lovely dresses we have with us! Tiny tots - both

boys and girls - will have 'maRu vEsham' like Krishna, Rama, Gopika and so on. They go to invite the ladies to

receive 'manjaL kunkumam'. Mamis will be given blouse bit, 'vetrialai - pAkku', coconut, banana, bangles, tiny

mirror, small comb and a 'chundal' packet prepared for that day. Girls will be given fancy bangles, imitation gold

chains as special gifts.

It was a pleasure to make those 'chundal' packets. Old Tamil magazines were reserved for this purpose. Full

sheet of 'Kalkandu' or half sheet of 'Kalki' were the specials. Full 'Anandha vikatan' sheets were used to make

bigger packets for mamis.

Most of the 'Kulus' will have nine steps. The white 'vEshtis' of mamas will vanish suddenly from their almirahs,

before Navarathri, to cover the steps made by using benches and old boxes. Children will be busy bringing sand

bags to make a park, as a part of the Kolu. In some houses, clay hills will be made to resemble Palani or

Thirupathi. The Lord at the top will indicate which hill it represents! Rangoli kOlams were special in a few

houses. Shells of different colors and sizes will occupy the last step of the 'Kolu'.

All the not-so-fortunate boys loved Navarathri because they will get 'chundal' / 'poRi kadalai' from all the

houses where 'kolu' is kept. Some used to show both their hands to get double share! One day, all the 'chundal'

packets and whole lot of 'poRi kadalai' was over by 8 p.m and two boys came late! My cousin brother found one

'poRi' and made it into two halves and gave one each saying that they can have only that much for the day! I

still remember the expressions on the faces of those boys!

Now comes the singing part of the Kolu. Every girl will present a song with or without sruthi alignment! Some

girls used to test our patience while singing! We sing in all the houses we visit and those days the favorites

were 'MAmavathu Sri Saraswathi' and 'Sarasija nAbha sOdhari'.


There were three Amman temples and one Shiva temple. All the Ammans and Durga Devi in the Shilva temple

will have special alankArams on all the nine days. Each house will bear the expenses for a day's alankaram and

they will get the first prasAdham on their day!

:dance:

Click to expand...

Dear RR ji,

This is really some awesome Blah Blah Blah..wow so nice to read...I hope you have some more stories to share.
 
renuka said:
Dear RR ji,

This is really some awesome Blah Blah Blah..wow so nice to read...I hope you have some more stories to share.
Click to expand...
hi
this is not blah blah......sorry to say ...nice write up....nice naration of life experiences...
 
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