Indian+Festivals

Indian Festivals By: Ayusha A.  Festivals are very important in Indian culture. In India, many festivals are celebrated throughout the year and almost every month a festival is celebrated. The main festivals that are celebrated in India are Diwali, Navratri, Ganesh Chaturthi,and Janmashtami.

Another significant holiday is Navratri. Navratri is actually not celebrated on just one day but is celebrated for nine nights. The word "Navaratri" comes from two words: "Nava" meaning "Nine" and "Ratri" which means "Night". Navaratri is a holiday to honor Goddess Durga. Goddess Durga is the goddess of Victory. On these nine nights people worship goddess Durga and have prasadam or food blessed by God. Every night they offer a different prasadam. For Navratri people put up a decorative stand in their house and put different, colorful dolls on display for the nine nights. Usually mothers and daughters put up this display of dolls together. These are some customs of Navaratri.

The next holiday is Ganesh Caturthi. Ganesh Chaturti is celebrated as the day when Lord Ganesha was born. Lord Ganesha is the "Remover of Obstacles". Each year, people make Lord Ganesha's favorite foods. One of the most important foods is Sweet Kozhukattai. To make kozhukattai, a dough is made out of rice flour, and a stuffing is made out of coconut and sugar. Small portions of the dough are made into a ball, and then flattened out. A small ball of the stuffing is put in the middle of the flattened dough ball. Then, the dough is closed around the stuffing and the whole thing is steamed to make a kozhukattai. This is a little bit about Ganesh Chaturthi.

Last but definitely not least, is Janmashtami. Janmashtami is celebrated when Lord Krishna was born. Lord Krishna is worshipped as the "Supreme Being". Krishna is known for his naughtiness as a boy and his charming face. Krishna is also known for being the God with a flute and the God that always has a peacock feather in his hair. When Krishna was a little boy he used to always steal butter from all of the gopis (beautiful women). Krishna's favorite food is butter. So on his birthday people always make butter. To make butter, put whipping cream in a jar and shake it and shake it and shake it until it becomes butter. This butter is offered to Krishna and kept in front of the idol of Krishna. Then the next morning the butter will be all gone! It is believed that Krishna comes and eats all the butter! These are some customs of Janmashtami.

There are a lot of Indian festivals each honoring one of the many Indian Gods. Each Indian God is worshipped in a unique way and with a special festival.