Navaratri - Bommai Golu festival!!

I always love the second half of the year, come August there are a string of festivals and holidays coming up one after another giving us a break from our mundane and routine lives right until Pongal in January!!

Coming up is the Navaratri Golu festival and I am pretty excited about it, we are continuing our Golu tradition after a break of two years and with almost all our dolls gone and damaged we decided to start fresh this year and with Dhriti getting more and more curious and showing a keen interest in our culture I feel this would be the right time to introduce her to Golu!!

Mylapore and Golu dolls:

We went around a couple of places to shop for Golu dolls and I feel the north Mada street in Mylapore is a Vibe now!! An array of street shops pop up at this time of the year filled with colorful dolls of all types and sizes with dolls being sold in all ranges with some dolls being sold for as high as 50K or more. I see the dolls makers getting as creative as possible as the dolls these days come in all colors and finishes unlike the ver conservative ones in my childhood.

Pupose of Golu:

Navaratri is a set of 9 days celebrated all over India, While the reasons may be different in different parts of India its still a festival. While its celebrated in Gujrat with garba and Dabdiya nights, West Bengal celebrates massive Durga pujo. in UP is happens to be the period Ram defeats Ravan, thereby signifying the victory of good over evil, In south too we belive this is the period where Durga takes an avtar to fight and defeat the demon Mahishasur. Legend has it that all the supreme as well as demi gods of our culture provide their weapons and mental and physical strenght to Durga in order to defeat the demon Mahishasur, thereby becoming like mere dolls or statues and thus we keep golus on steps where all the idols of our favourite gods are kept, our houses are decorated and guests are invited. While this is one of the reasons many people believe that Golus are kept, I personally also believe its a great and fun way to introduce our kids to our culture where they learn the significance of Navaratri and all our gods. With kids and their endless questions this could be one time of the year when all such stories are shared, while they dress up and golu hop from one house to another binging on sundal (made of lentils) and sweets.

Fun fact:

Did you know Japan too celebrates a similar festival every year for a day in March known as Hinamatsuri? They place decorated and ornamental dolls on steps and celebrate a religious festival!!

Why golu for kids?

Well dhriti is 3.5 and seems pretty calm and understanding when I tell her not to touch things which break or stay away from certain things so I am keeping a one step golu, While golu in toddler homes may not be a great Idea, you can try your luck if your kids are calm and show a creative streak as its a great way to also keep them occupied on the days leading to Navaratri. Its a great time to explore our own creativity keeping different themes and sets or many even telling a story with our dolls? what do you think?

Do you also arrange Golu dolls for your Navaratri? how else do you celebrate it? comment below!!