Ten Days, Nine Nights

Every year around this same time, I have the pleasure of going to many friends’ houses to celebrate an important holiday. We all eat, talk, pray, and enjoy time. The host house builds a stair step altar filled with beautiful figurines that depict a story and make all these delicious foods. Everyone else, mainly the women, visit their homes to view the amazing altar and with them, they bring gifts. Together we all enjoy, eat, pray, get presents, and celebrate a wonderful religious holiday.

As an Indian and a Hindu, there is always one week of the year, technically ten days, that is an important religious and celebration week. This week is called Navratri, meaning nine nights in Sanskrit. During these nine nights, Hindus worship the nine different forms of Shakti or Devi or Durga (the same god, just different names). The final tenth day, is a special one, called Dussehra. Durga is the divine mother god who provides a person with energy. She cannot be created or destroyed; she is always there. The reason we worship her is that she is the divine mother and the mother of all, her energy and greatness will help us in life. The nine days are separated into three sections, one for each of the main goddesses, Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. Durga is worshipped to destroy all our impurities, Lakshmi is the goddess of wealth, and Saraswati is the goddess of wisdom. Yes, I understand that there are a lot of gods and goddesses in the Hindu religion, but the main reason we celebrate these nine nights is to bestow wealth, knowledge, success, and powers to overcome obstacles upon us.

In these ten days, there are celebrations and prayers every day. I remember, ever since I was a little kid, I would look forward to this week. All of my friends and I would go around to different houses, eating food, getting to dress up in amazing clothing, and hang out, while spending time with our families and praying. It was a win-win situation. As we grew older, we would participate more in the religious aspect by singing songs and leading prayers.

Living here in the US has brought me away from my native culture. At times like these ten days or other important Indian festivals, it reminds me of my roots. I love being able to take part in both American and Indian culture, it helps me become more aware of things around the world. These ten days not only are a celebration and religious time, but it is a time that reminds me of who I am and where I am from, which is what I love.