Navratri 2022: How the festival is celebrated in Gujarat


Navratri 2022: The biggest festival of India is here. Navratri is a ten-day festival celebrated all across India with a whole lot of pomp and grandeur. Navratri, which literally translates to nine nights, is the celebration of the nine avatars of Goddess Shakti. All over India, across states, this Hindu festival is celebrated in different ways. While north India keeps fast and worships goddess Shakti and engage in traditional music and dance, east India worships goddess Durga and her four children – goddess Lakshmi, goddess Saraswati, lord Ganesha and lord Karthik. The ten-day festival sees a lot of worshipping, rituals, and fun times with families, friends, near and dear ones.

Navratri is celebrated as one of the biggest festivals of Gujarat. From keeping fast to decking up in the brightest colours, Gujaratis engage in the celebrations with a lot of mirth. Navratri, in Gujarat, is all about worshipping goddess Shakti. This year, Navratri starts on September 26 and will go on till October 5. the nine days of Navratri also denotes nine colours with specific meanings – devotees deck up in those particular colours for each day.

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Gujaratis start their days during Navratri by worshipping Goddess Shakti and asking for the goddess’ blessings for their family. An earthen pot, known as garbi, is used for aarti. Regular aarti is performed to keep goddess Shakti happy and content. One of the main highlights of Navratri celebrations in Gujarat is their traditional Navratri-special dance – garba. People deck up in traditional garba attires and perform a dance, which also involves the use of dandiyas (sticks). They enact several mythological stories through their dances as well.

In recent times, mega gatherings are organised where a huge number of people come together to celebrate Navratri. After the garba, people get together and feast on their favourite foods. This year, Navratri is awaited more, because the celebrations were dimmed for the last two years due to the spread of COVID-19.