Photographs
and words by Dipak Joshi of Roots - a joint initiative between East
Midlands Arts and BBC Radio Leicester 104.9FM.
Nine days and nights
of dancing start this week as thousands of Hindus celebrate in more
than 80 venues across Leicestershire.
The word Navratri
means nine (Nava) and nights (ratri). Celebration is very colourful
with woman dressed in traditional chaniya choli and men in salwar
kamiz.
More than 100,000
people from across the Midlands are expected to flock to community
venues in the county during this year's Navratri celebrations. Leicestershire
is renowned as one of the best places to celebrate the festival
outside of India.
Navratri traditionally
takes place during the first nine days of the bright half of the
month of Aashwayuja in the Indian calendar. The most significant
Navratri tradition is the setting up of an odd number of steps (usually
seven, nine or 11) in people's homes and the placing of different
idols of Gods on them.
This arrangement
is called a "Goole". Visitors are given parsed (the offering given
to God that day), kumkum (red powder) and women and receive a small
bag of gifts usually containing a mirror, a comb, a small box of
kumkum and fruits.
Navratri is
very much a women's festival and is the worship of the three divine
goddesses, Saraswati (Goddess of learning and speech), Lakshmi (Goddess
of wealth and prosperity) and Durga (Goddess of strength and courage).
Festivities
taking place in venues including De Montfort Hall include dancing
to the sounds of dhol drumming and folk songs.
The festival
also marks the battle between Goddess Chaamundeshwari and the asura
(demon) Mahishaasura. The battle lasted for nine days and nine nights.
Finally,
on the 10th day, the Goddess Chaamundeshwari killed Mahishaasura.
This day is
known as Vijayadasami meaning the 10th day of victory. Today,
Vijayadasami is one of the most auspicious days in the Hindu year.
Navratri and
Vijayadasami are also celebrated with sweets and snack items. One
of each are made on each of the 10 days in India. Popular sweets
in the Midlands are those made from fresh
fruit, dried
fruit, vegetarian sweets made from milk (barfi and penda), caster
sugar and fresh coconut.
Asian fashion
shops windows are festooned with traditional chania choli and salwar
kamiz specially imported from India.
Photographs
and words by Dipak Joshi of Roots - a joint initiative between East
Midlands Arts and BBC Radio Leicester 104.9FM. |
