If you are a regular visitor or a long-term resident in
India, you are always bound to come across some kind of celebrations in between
the normal chaos & the fast paced life. Most of the times it’s either a marriage
or a festival. Lighting, bright Colorful clothing, various flowers, very often
dancing symbolize these festivals spread across different religion &
communities of India.
If you are wondering what’s going on with the colorful
lights, loudly played music & dance everywhere these days, well! We are
going through the NavRatri (Nava-9 & Ratri-Nights) Festival right now. This
is a festival that goes for nine nights. In a highly male dominated Indian
society where even Gods have a bigger share of festivals on their side,
NavRatri is a rare extravaganza of Goddess. During these nine nights and
ten days, nine forms of Shakti(power) / Devi (Goddess) are worshiped. It
is the most enjoyable time of the year for Indian ladies because it is the
festival especially for their respected Goddess. It represents the importance
of women’ s power and they should gain their equality in the society as well. A
lot of ladies wear shining traditional dress and dance overnight. Most of times
in life, they are only looked as a supporting role, but during NavRatri, they
finally play as a leading character!
Interesting thing is this festival also corresponds to a
nine-day Taoist celebration beginning on the eve of 9th lunar month of the
Chinese calendar, which is observed primarily by the ethnic Chinese of Min Nan
linguistic group in Southeast Asian countries like Myanmar, Singapore,
Malaysia, Thailand and also the Riau Islands called the Nine Emperor Gods
Festival.
Navratri is an important major festival and is celebrated
all over India; however, it is most famous in the western state of Gujrat &
Eastern state of West Bengal, although celebrations are done differently in
these both states. In Gujarat it’s more of the dance forms of garba &
dandiya (dancing with 2 sticks as prop ) while in Bengal is popularly the Durga
Puja decorations that is the Highlight. When Mr Xi was invited by Mr Modi to
visit his hometown during his recent trip to India, garba & dandiya was performed by a group of festival
dressed ladies at the event. Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess
Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. Thus, Durga Puja festival epitomizes
the victory of Good over Evil.
If
you are in India & aware of any dandiya event close to your place, do not
hesitate to visit it and give a shot to the dance. It’s worth every penny if it’s
a paid event. The costumes are colorful & lavish.
The word for today
Dance
Tiao Wu
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