Each day of Navratri is dedicated to a different aspect of the Divine Mother or the Shakti, starting with Shailaputri and ending with Siddhidatri.

Durga Puja is celebrated with much fanfare in West Bengal and the Eastern part of the country, while in other parts of the country, people tell the tales of Rama and Ramayana during this time to their families and strive to imbibe the values and character of Rama in their lives.

An all-encompassing inclusion of the celebrations for Navratri is beyond the scope of this blog post.

However, the best effort has been made to include as many stories and rituals/symbolic aspects for each region.

The message and purpose of worship are the same across different regions of the country, but our ways of communicating these messages and how we celebrate vary from region to region.

Let us briefly look at how Navratri is celebrated across the expanse of India.

The festival is observed with great devotion and enthusiasm across India. Regardless of how each region celebrates Navratri, everyone begins the celebrations by cleaning their home and putting rangoli in front of the house.

Performances of Ramleela, a dramatic retelling of the Ramayana, are common during Navratri. Stories from Rama’s life are enacted with music and song, and dance sequences.

It is a common sight to see young boys dressed in traditional attire carrying wooden swords, toy bows, and arrows, or Hanuman’s Gada (mace), pretending to be either Rama or Ravana or a part of the monkey army, challenging each other to a fight.

Other kids join by being a part of their respective armies, and one young lady becomes the goddess Sita.

The nine days culminate with the burning of Ravana effigies on the tenth day, Dussehra.

The actor playing Rama shoots an arrow at the effigies, which are filled with hay and crackers. As the effigies burn down, these firecrackers are lit and create an aura that is stark and conveys a sense of victory of good over evil.

Kanya Puja is celebrated on the eighth and ninth days of the festival. Before the Pooja, most people fast for the first seven days of the Navratri.

During Kanya puja, nine little girls are worshipped using lighted lamps, incense, and kumkum, and a sacred thread is tied on their wrists.

After the pooja, prasad is offered, which is chhole or chana, poori, and halwa.

This ceremony indicates the reverence that Hinduism holds for women, as these little girls are believed to be incarnations of the Divine Mother.

It also conveys to girls the message that they are strong and have powerful energy inside them and are capable of overcoming all obstacles.

In Northern India and particularly in Punjab and Delhi, Jagrata or Jaagrans or Mata ki Chowki are organized during Navratri.

For this celebration, people gather in a pandal where they spend an entire night singing songs praising the Goddess and reciting the stories of her bravery fighting all the asuras.

The pandal is decorated with huge idols of the Goddess and professional troops with singers and a band come to perform.

They usually have actors dressed as various characters that add to the flair of the performance.

This generates quite an excitement in the crowd and helps to tide over any bouts of sleepiness that might be coming over some of the devotees in the gathering.

Special garments called Mata ki chunri are draped over the idol. These dupattas are brightly colored in shades of red and gold, and devotees may also drape them on themselves.

ALSO READ >>> 12 Magical Children’s Books to Celebrate Navratri, Durga Puja and Dussehra With Your Kids

In West Bengal, Navratri is celebrated as Durga Puja, one of the grandest festivals in the state. Huge, elaborately decorated idols of Durga are set up, and the streets come alive with music, dance, and processions.

There are depictions of stories from her life, and the slaying of Mahishasura by Durga in the Katyayani form is a popular theme.

Durga Puja begins on the sixth day of Navratri. The last five days of Sharad Navratri are celebrated as Durga Puja in West Bengal and the Northeastern states of India.

Durga idols are worshipped for five days and immersed in the river on the fifth day. The eighth day is observed as Durgashtami.

Devi Durga is shown with various weapons in her hand, riding on a lion. The lion signifies the dharma, the willpower, while the weapons denote the focus and severity needed to destroy the negativity in our minds.

Dhanuchi naach is a prominent feature of the festival. It is a sacred dance in which men and women hold lit-up, clay incense burners.

Women dress in gorgeous red and white saris, and men wear kurta-pajamas. A much-loved part of the puja is the Maha Aarti, which takes place every evening, accompanied by the dhol (a traditional musical instrument) playing in the background.

On Dussehra, women apply kumkum on the idol and each other’s cheeks for good wishes.

Another tradition is that of Darpan Visarjan, in which turmeric water is placed on a plate, and a mirror is placed on it.

Devotees then look at the reflection of the Goddess in the mirror and pray to it.

ALSO READ >>> Navratri Festival: Nine nights of worship and celebration

In Western India, particularly in the state of Gujarat, Navratri is synonymous with Garba and Dandiya, where the entire community participates in dance and song throughout the nine nights.

This is perhaps the most fun part for children. People of all ages dress up in colorful traditional attire and dance the night away to rhythmic beats.

Garba involves dancing in circles around a lamp or an idol of the goddess, symbolizing the cycle of life.

Garba songs are done in a call-and-response format where one voice symbolizes a woman praying to the Divine Mother and the second voice represents the goddess’s answer to that prayer.

Dandiya is performed with sticks and mimics the fight between Durga and Mahishasura. I have written about Garba and Dandiya celebrations in greater detail in another blog post. I am linking it below for further reading for anyone interested.

READ MORE >>> Garba and Dandiya101: Dance, Dress, and celebrate the joy of Navratri

In Goa, a festival called Makharotsav is celebrated during Navratri, in which the idol of Goddess Durga is placed on a wooden swing called a Makhar.

Every night, a different idol representing the various forms of Durga is kept on the swing and rocked to the rhythm of the music.

In Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka, homes are decorated with a showcase of dolls amid an array of lighted oil lamps called Golu or Bommai Kolu.

I had not heard of Golu celebrations during Navratri until two years ago, when a friend introduced me to how they celebrated Navratri.

Here is what I have understood so far.

These dolls represent various gods, goddesses, animals, and scenes from mythology.

To display these dolls, they create wooden steps which can be three, five, seven, or nine, and are called Golu Padi. The dolls are displayed such that each group depicts a story from mythology.

The dolls are displayed for the entire nine days, and friends come and visit each other’s homes to see their Golu setup. 

Apart from religious figurines, doll displays also showcase the varied and colorful folk traditions of India, like hand painting, wood carving, and the use of plants in making toys.  

In Kannada, this display is called Bombe Habba, Bommai Kolu in Tamil, Bomma Gullu in Malayalam, and Bommala Koluvu in Telugu.

It’s a great way to teach children about Indian stories and traditions through a fun and interactive setup.

READ MORE >>> Navratri Through The Years: Personal Reflections And Cultural Significance

In earlier times, when young girls were sent to live in the homes of their new husbands, the parents often gifted them with wooden dolls called Marapaachi Bommai at the time of their marriage.

The dolls are made of marapaachi wood, which is believed to have medicinal properties.

It is the custom that each year, a new doll is added to the collection. During Navratri, these dolls came to be displayed, and the setup is called Bommai Kolu.

These Marapaachi Bommais are traditionally passed on from the mother to her daughter in each household.

On Dussehra, the standing Marapaachi dolls are placed in a sleeping position to show that the festival of Navratri has ended.

People in Tamil Nadu smash pumpkins on the ground during Navratri. They hang a pumpkin painted with a demon face at the entrance to their homes to keep bad things away.

This pumpkin is called Drishti Poosanikkai. During Navratri, prayers are offered to the goddess for good vibes, and the pumpkin is smashed.

No celebration is complete without Prasad or Naivedyam. A dish called sundal is prepared using different lentils and pulses for each day of Navratri.

Aigiri Nandini is a special hymn that the people in Tamil Nadu sing and listen to on these nine days.

This is an absolute favorite hymn in our house, and we listen to it all year long. If you haven’t heard Aigiri Nandini, you must now!

Interestingly, Navratri is known as Dasara in Karnataka. During the nine nights of Navratri,  Yakshagana performances take place, showcasing night-long dance dramas inspired by the epic Puranas.

The Mysore Dasara is celebrated with immense grandeur, portraying the victory over evil. Vibrant processions are held in the streets, showcasing the magnificent presence of Goddess Chamundi.

The Mysore Palace is extravagantly lit, and several competitions and performances are held at the event. The highlight of the festival is a jumbo safari or elephant procession carrying the idol of the Goddess.

The Ayudha Puja is joyfully celebrated across South India on the Mahanavami (Ninth) day.

Agricultural implements, tools, books, musical instruments, machinery, and automobiles are beautifully decorated and worshipped.

The worship of Goddess Saraswati also takes place on the ninth day of Navratri.

The tenth day is celebrated as ‘Vijaya Dashami’. In Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, it is the day of Vidyaarambham, where young children are initiated into learning.

Navratri celebrations are associated with the harvest festival, and on the first day of Navratri, various grains are sown. People prepare a small flatbed of mud, sow either seven or nine types of grains, and offer prayers.

This is called Ghatasthapana, which translates to the Installation of a pot.

Every day for nine days, the grains are watered and prayed over. On the tenth day, the seedlings are then submerged in a body of water.

This is done to release the power of the Shakti that is believed to live within the plants.

The seedlings are also offered to devotees as a harbinger of good fortune.

Fasting is an important part of Navratri for many families. Several people practice fasting from all food except fruit and milk for nine days, while others fast for only some of the days.

Most people abstain from eating spicy food or foods containing onions or garlic.

While not all households follow the same customs, it is common to fast as a way to purify the body and mind.

Special foods are prepared that exclude grains, onions, garlic, and certain spices. Instead, ingredients like buckwheat flour (kuttu ka atta), tapioca (sabudana), and water chestnut flour (singhara) are used.

Many people read or recite the ancient text, Devi Mahatmyam (Glory of the Goddess), during Navratri.

It is also known as Durga Saptashati and is composed of 700 verses that tell the tales of Durga’s battles with demons such as Mahishasura, Shumbha, and Nishumbha, amongst others, while also singing the glory of the Goddess.

Navratri is a celebration that beautifully reflects India’s rich cultural diversity.

From the rhythmic Garba dances of Gujarat to the grandeur of Durga Puja in West Bengal, the Golu celebrations in South India to the dramatic Ramleela in the North, each region infuses its unique traditions and rituals into the festival.

Yet, despite these differences, the underlying spirit of devotion, joy, and the triumph of good over evil remains the same across the country.

As we celebrate Navratri, we are reminded of India’s vibrant heritage and the powerful message of unity in diversity that this festival embodies.

Wherever you are, may the celebrations bring peace, prosperity, and divine blessings into your life!

ALSO READ >>> Durga Navadurga: Get to know the 9 Forms of Durga