The Navratri festival is one of the many Indian celebrations and heavenly festivals. This year’s festival will be celebrated from April 13 to April 22.
In this article, we will be taking a look at all that one needs to know about the Navratri.
The Navratri is normally known as Chaitra Navratri and it is a Hindu festival. Per the Hindu Lunar calendar, the first month is Chaitra (March/April).
The name ‘Navratri’ just means nine days, and this marks the length of the celebration. It is also the number of Goddesses worshipped during these nine days. Navratri is celebrated in fall and in spring as it indicated a change in the seasons.
As indicated by the Vedic calendar, a new year only comes after the Vasanta Navratri in the spring season. The Mother Goddess who is also known as Maa Shakti is loved during these propitious days in her nine structures.
She is also referred to as Devi (goddess) or intrepid Durga that eliminates all tragedies from one’s life. She can also be called Shakti which means she is the female force that makes everything alive and without which the actual world would stop existing!
What this means is that the festival is the most female engaging festival in the world. The fundamental Hindu Goddesses will be venerated on various long periods of Navratri: Laxmi, the goddess of riches and flourishing; Durga, the remover or all indecencies and debasements; Saraswati, the goddess of workmanship and insight.
People also wear nine different colours during the nine days of Navratri. Below are the days and their corresponding colours.
Day 1: Green
Day 2: Blue
Day 3: Red
Day 4: Orange
Day 5: Yellow
Day 6: Blue
Day 7: Purple
Day 8: Pink
It has been established that Shakti or Divine Mother help anybody out of luck during the period and this is shown in the story from Devi Bhagavata telling about ruler Sudarsana, who was banished from his realm as a little youngster, yet at last, wedded effectively and returned to his seat in the wake of perusing the Devi mantra and turning into Devi’s supporter.
During the period, celebrants have a fast known as the Navratri fast and they eat only Sattvic food. It is believed that the human body gets an important break and completely detoxifies during the nine days of the celebration.
Although celebrants fast, they also fill their bellies with yummy food they take in a lot of various leafy foods and hot improved milk to get a jolt of energy and last the entire day.
