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Rituals Performed During Durga Pooja

2023-10-18 18:25:00

The festivities begin from the time of Mahalaya, where the devotees request Goddess Durga to come to the earth. On this day, they make the eyes on the statue of the Goddess during an auspicious ceremony named Chokkhu Daan. After establishing the idol of Goddess Durga in place, they perform rituals to raise her blessed presence into the idols on Saptami. These rituals are called ‘Pran Pratisthan’. It consists of a small banana plant known a Kola Bou (banana bride), which is taken for a bath in a nearby river or lake, outfitted in a sari, and is used as a way for carrying the Goddess’s holy energy. During the festival, the devotees offer prayers to the Goddess and worshiped her in several different forms. After the evening aarti ritual is done on the eighth day it is a tradition for the religious folk dance which is performed in front of the Goddess in order to gratify her. This dance is performed on the musical beats of drums while holding a clay pot filled with burning coconut covering and camphor. On the ninth day, the worship is completed with a Maha Aarti. It is symbolic of the ending of the major rituals and prayers. On the last day of the festival, Goddess Durga goes back to her husband’s dwelling and the goddess Durga’s statutes are taken for immersion in the river. The married women offer red vermillion powder to the Goddess and mark themselves with this powder. Conclusion All people celebrate and enjoy this festival irrespective of their castes and financial status. Durga Pooja is an enormously communal and theatrical celebration. Dance and cultural performances are an essential part of it. Delicious traditional food is also an enormous part of the festival. The street of Kolkata flourishes with food stalls and shops, where several locals and foreigners enjoy mouth-watering foodstuff including sweets. To celebrate Durga Pooja, all workplaces, educational institutions, and business places remain closed in West Bengal. Besides Kolkata, Durga Pooja is also celebrated in other places like Patna, Guwahati, Mumbai, Jamshedpur, Bhubaneswar, and so on. Many non-residential Bengali cultural establishments organize Durga Pooja in several places in the UK, USA, Australia, France, and other countries. Thus, the festival teaches us that good always wins over the evil and so we should always follow the right path