Navratri

This week is the Hindu festival of Navratri.  This festival lasts nine nights, nav meaning nine and ratri meaning night.  This festival marks the celebration of the Hindu goddess Shakti, the Hindu mother goddess, in all of her various forms.  This festival is celebrated all over India but is especially popular in the Indian state of Gujarat.  The most well known feature of the festival is the Garba, a couples dance performed with two brightly colored sticks.  Dancers wear amazingly bright clothing typical of the Gujarat region, and some of the best Garba couples train the entire year to prepare for the large dance contests held each Navratri.  All of the streets here in Mumbai are decorated with beautiful lights as each neighborhood here has decorated for their own Navratri celebrations.  We will even be having a Navratri celebration Friday evening at work!  There are a couple of guys from Gujrat in my group so I can't wait to see their moves! :-) I have included a couple of pictures above of the lights in our neighborhood.  I will be taking more Navratri photos this weekend so I hope to have pictures everyday.  Almost done with our first week of work in India!