Navaratri

Navaratri (நவராத்திரி) means "nine nights". For nine evenings, Tamil homes honour the Goddess in her many forms, and many families set up a golu (கொலு): a staircase of dolls that turns the living room into a colourful little world of gods, saints, village scenes and everyday life. Friends drop in, songs are sung, children hand out sundal, and the festival ends with Saraswathi Pooja, Ayudha Pooja and Vijayadasami. For many children, it is the most fun festival of the year.

When is it celebrated

Navaratri begins on the day after Mahalaya Amavasai (மகாளய அமாவாசை), the new moon in the Tamil month of Purattasi (புரட்டாசி), and runs for nine nights. The tenth day is Vijayadasami (விஜயதசமி). The festival usually falls in late September or October, and in some years it stretches into the month of Aippasi.

Why it is celebrated

Navaratri celebrates the Goddess, Amman or Shakti, the divine mother. A common tradition divides the nine nights into three sets of three:

• The first three nights honour Durga (துர்கை), for courage and strength.
• The next three nights honour Lakshmi (லட்சுமி), for well-being and prosperity.
• The last three nights honour Saraswathi (சரஸ்வதி), for knowledge, music and the arts.

According to a well-known legend, the buffalo-demon Mahishasura (மகிஷாசுரன்) grew so powerful that the gods could not defeat him. The Goddess took the form of Durga and fought him for nine days and nights, and on the tenth day she won. This is why the tenth day is called Vijayadasami, "the tenth day of victory", and why the Goddess is worshipped as Mahishasuramardini (மகிஷாசுரமர்த்தினி), "the one who destroyed Mahishasura".

How families celebrate

Setting up the golu

The golu is usually set up just before the festival begins. Families build steps, called padi (படி), from wooden planks, boxes or a ready-made stand, and cover them with a cloth. The number of steps is traditionally odd: three, five, seven or nine.

• The top step holds images of the gods, and often a kalasam (கலசம்), a decorated pot.
• The middle steps hold saints, sages and scenes from the epics.
• The lower steps show people, animals, markets, weddings and everyday life.

Many families explain the arrangement as a journey, rising from ordinary life on the lower steps up to the divine at the top. A pair of wooden dolls called marapachi (மரப்பாச்சி), often dressed as a bride and groom, has a special place, and is traditionally passed on to daughters. Many families add a new doll every year, and children love building a "park" at the foot of the golu with sand, sprouted seeds, toy animals and little lights.

Evenings of visiting

Each evening, a lamp is lit and prayers are said before the golu. Friends and relatives, especially women and girls, are invited to see it. Guests are often asked to sing a song, and when they leave they receive thamboolam (தாம்பூலம்): betel leaves and nuts, vetrilai paakku (வெற்றிலை பாக்கு), with turmeric, kumkum, fruit and a small gift. Children often help to serve the sundal.

Saraswathi Pooja and Ayudha Pooja

The ninth day, Navami (நவமி), brings two poojas together:

• Saraswathi Pooja (சரஸ்வதி பூஜை) — books, pens and musical instruments are placed before the Goddess of learning and worshipped. Children usually do not study that day, since their books are "resting" in the pooja.
• Ayudha Pooja (ஆயுத பூஜை) — tools, machines, vehicles and computers are cleaned and decorated with sandalwood paste, kumkum and flowers, as a way of thanking the things that help us work. Shops, workshops and auto-rickshaws are decorated with banana plants and mango leaves, and an ash gourd, poosanikkai (பூசணிக்காய்), is often broken to ward off the evil eye, thirushti (திருஷ்டி).

Vijayadasami

Vijayadasami is considered a wonderful day to begin something new. In the ceremony of vidyarambam (வித்யாரம்பம்), young children write their first letter, அ, in a plate of rice or paddy, guided by a parent, elder or teacher. Many people also start music, dance or other classes on this day. After the festival, the golu dolls are carefully wrapped and packed away until next year.

Traditional food

The favourite Navaratri food is sundal (சுண்டல்): boiled legumes tempered with mustard seeds, curry leaves and grated coconut. Many families make a different one each day, such as:

• chickpeas, kondakadalai (கொண்டைக்கடலை)
• green gram, pachai payaru (பச்சைப் பயறு)
• black-eyed beans, kaaramani (காராமணி)
• peanuts, verkadalai (வேர்க்கடலை)

Sweets such as payasam and sakkarai pongal are also offered to the Goddess on different days and shared with guests.

Kolam and decorations

A fresh kolam (கோலம்) is drawn every day at the entrance and in front of the golu, sometimes with colour on special days. Lamps, flowers, fairy lights and mango-leaf garlands make the golu corner glow. Each family's golu is different, and part of the fun is going from house to house to see what everyone has created.

Around Tamil Nadu and the world

In Amman temples, the Goddess is given a special decoration, or alankaram (அலங்காரம்), each day, often showing her in a different form. At Kulasekarapattinam (குலசேகரன்பட்டினம்), near Thoothukudi, the Dasara festival at the Mutharamman (முத்தாரம்மன்) temple draws huge crowds, with many devotees dressing up in costumes as a vow.

Across India, the same season brings Durga Puja in Bengal, Garba and Dandiya dances in Gujarat, the grand Dasara at Mysuru in Karnataka, and Dussehra in the north, where Rama's victory over Ravana is celebrated. Families in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka keep their own doll traditions too.

Golu has travelled with Tamil families around the world. In Singapore, Malaysia, the UK, the USA, Canada and Australia, many homes and temples set up golu, and friends of every background are welcomed in for songs, sundal and smiles.