Navratri

Navrati literally means nine nights in Sanskrit. This festival is in honor of the goddess Ambaji. For nine days the goddess fights against the evil in the world. On the tenth day called Dessera. Ambaji wins against evil and people symbolically burn the Lord Ravana, the ten-headed god who is the representation of evil. However this is primarily this is a dancing festival. Everyone gets into special traditional dresses called Chanya Cholies and gets together with many people in their society and dance gharba (a traditional Indian dance which I have also learned) around an idol of Ambaji. The festival starts after 9:00pm and usually finishes around 2:00 in the morning. It is a beautiful festival. I am not much a fan of organized dance because I have a hard time following what everyone else is doing (the story of my life) but I am in love this festival. People dance with intense passion that I have never seen before. It really looks like some people are dancing for their last breath. I am sad that I will never be able to experience another Navratri because it was a beautiful and inspiring experience. I am not religious in any way, but it really felt like we were destroying evil somehow. Maybe not within the world but within ourselves. When you are dancing with 2,000 in one small area with the same purpose in a small way it feels like your soul is set free from everything bad because there are 1,999 other people with the same problems as you. Your soul is set free and the only thing left to do is dance out all of your life’s passions and problems. Yes it is horribly crowded and horribly sweaty and I wore the bottoms of my feet off but I could not care because I felt so free that it did not matter. This festival will be a memory that I will hold close to my heart for the rest of my life.

Me my Cami (exchange student from France) and her brother in our traditional clothes!