Your Guide To Celebrating Navratri In Gujarat

Navratri –– is one of India’s most exuberant festivals, and Gujarat transforms it into a state-wide, all-night dance party. Every evening people gather in open squares around a small shrine to the goddess (garbo) and dance in concentric circles. At the festival’s start each family builds a garbo – an earthen pot with a coconut, betel nut and coins to symbolize the goddess – and performs puja. Over the nine nights the community honours Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati in sequence. By nightfall the ceremony gives way to pulsating Garba and Dandiya rhythms – drums, harmonium and songs – and villagers (as well as city folk) whirl “towards the divinity” that every woman holds within. Even traditionally reserved women freely join the dance, a vivid expression of empowerment and joy. Devotees pay homage to the nine divine forms of Maa Durga with deep reverence, invoking their blessings for strength, prosperity, and wisdom throughout the nine nights.