NavratriNine Nights of Devotion, Strength and Celebration

Every year, as the evenings start to cool and the air begins to feel a little different, Navratri arrives. For nine nights, homes, temples and communities come alive with devotion, music, colour and celebration. At its heart, Navratri honours Goddess Durga, the embodiment of Shakti, the divine feminine energy, and the timeless story of good triumphing over evil.

It's a festival that means something slightly different to everyone who celebrates it. For some, it's about fasting and prayer. For others, it's nine nights of dancing. For most of us, it's all of it at once, woven together into something that feels both deeply spiritual and genuinely joyful.

The word Navratri comes from Sanskrit: "nav" meaning nine, and "ratri" meaning nights. Together, it refers to the nine nights (and ten days) dedicated to worshipping Goddess Durga in her many forms. It's celebrated to honour her victory over the demon Mahishasura, a story that symbolises the triumph of righteousness and strength over evil and darkness.

What's interesting about Navratri is that it isn't celebrated the same way everywhere. India actually observes several Navratris throughout the year, but the one that's most widely celebrated, and the one most people mean when they say "Navratri", is Sharad Navratri, which falls in the autumn. Depending on the region, the family, and local tradition, the exact rituals, foods and customs can look quite different, but the devotion at the centre of it stays the same.

Each of the nine nights is dedicated to a different form of the goddess, collectively known as the Navadurga. Each form represents a different quality or stage of life, from childhood innocence to ultimate spiritual perfection.

Devotion during Navratri takes many forms. Many people observe a fast for some or all of the nine days, often avoiding grains, meat and certain foods, and eating simpler meals built around fruits, dairy and specific flours instead. Others focus less on fasting and more on daily prayer, visiting the temple, performing aarti at home, or singing bhajans in the evenings with family.

What's worth remembering is that there isn't one "correct" way to observe Navratri. Fasting customs, prayer routines and daily rituals can vary quite a lot between households and regions, shaped by family tradition as much as by religious text. That diversity is part of what makes the festival feel so personal.

One of the most meaningful traditions of Navratri is Kanya Pujan, the worship of young girls as living representations of the divine feminine. The girls, usually not yet reached puberty, are invited into the home, their feet are washed, and they're treated with the same respect and reverence given to the goddess herself.

After the prayers, it's customary to serve the girls a meal, often including halwa, puri and chana, along with small gifts as a token of blessing and gratitude. Depending on family tradition, Kanya Pujan is commonly performed on Ashtami or Navami, the eighth or ninth day of the festival.

Part of what makes Navratri so fascinating is how differently it's celebrated depending on where you are. In Gujarat, the festival is almost synonymous with Garba and Dandiya, nights filled with circular dancing, colourful traditional outfits and the rhythmic clash of dandiya sticks, often going on until the early hours.

In West Bengal, the celebrations take a different shape entirely with Durga Puja, where elaborately decorated pandals are built across cities, housing stunning idols of the goddess, drawing huge crowds for days of worship, art and community celebration.

In North India, Navratri tends to centre more on temple worship, fasting and community gatherings, with many households hosting prayers and inviting friends and family to join. Meanwhile, in South India, the festival takes on its own regional character, with traditions like Golu, displaying decorative dolls and figurines on tiered steps, becoming a central part of the celebration.

Navratri comes to a close with Vijayadashami, also widely known as Dussehra, on the tenth day. It marks the moment Goddess Durga defeated Mahishasura, and in many parts of North India, it's celebrated alongside the story of Lord Rama's victory over the demon king Ravana, with effigies of Ravana burned in huge public gatherings.

Whether the focus is on Durga's triumph or Rama's, the message at the heart of Vijayadashami is the same one that runs through the whole festival: good overcoming evil, light overcoming darkness, and the reward that comes from devotion, patience and faith.

Living in the UK, Navratri has always felt like a special reminder of where my family comes from.

It's a time when faith, family, community and tradition all come together, and taking part in it, whether through Kanya Pujan, prayers or just being around family during the celebrations, makes me feel connected to something much bigger than any single day.

I've taken part in Kanya Pujan and in Navratri's religious celebrations myself, and it's one of those traditions that means more to me every year I do it. There's something grounding about following a ritual that's been passed down for generations, even while living somewhere far from where it originated.

Navratri reminds me to be grateful, for family, for community and for the traditions that keep us connected to where we come from. It's a festival about devotion and strength, but for me, it's also just a genuinely special time of year.