Celebrating the colors of Navratri in Canada!

‘Navratri’ the festival of nine-nights starts today. During these nine auspicious days, Goddess Durga, is worshipped in each of her nine forms and each day has a unique ritual associated to it. It is one of the longest Hindu festivals celebrated all over India in different styles. It is a celebration of good over evil! 

Having grown up in a metropolitan city like Mumbai, I witnessed Navratri being celebrated in several different ways and with a lot of pomp and zeal. The rituals are more are less common across; people clean and decorate the house to welcome the Goddess in their homes, consume only vegetarian food, some even fast for 9 days, offer prayers (Pooja) and food (Prasad) to the goddess twice a day and play garba and dandiya (dance form originating from the state of Gujrat) in the evenings. Navratri is close to my heart because all these rituals were followed by my mom, and me and my sisters grew up observing and celebrating these rituals with a lot of enthusiasm. Every year I look forward to celebrating Navratri because of the various fun things associated with it. 

One of my favorite things about this festival is the celebration of 9 colors. It is believed that one can show their respect and devotion for the goddesses by wearing the 9 colors (one color dedicated to each day) during all the nine days of Navratri.  All men and women across the country try their best to adorn the color of the day, particularly women who dress up in their best sarees and traditional outfits. It’s a beautiful sight to see the spirit of joy and happiness everywhere. Every year I look up the list of Navratri colors in advance and make my wardrobe ready to adorn the designated colors on all 9 days. This year too I wanted to do something similar, but living away from home comes with it’s own challenges. It is a bit challenging, as I cannot flaunt my desi outfits at work every day. However, I wanted to preserve the Navratri tradition in Vancouver. So, I came up with 9 professional/office wear looks that I will adorn for the next 9 days. With my current wardrobe, I somehow managed to incorporate the colors in my outfit.

The 9 colors of Navratri 2017 are as follows:

Day 1 - 21 September 2017 Yellow

Day 2 - 22 September 2017 Green

Day 3 - 23 September 2017 Grey

Day 4 - 24 September 2017 Orange

Day 5 - 25 September 2017 White

Day 6 - 26 September 2017 Red

Day 7 - 27 September 2017 Blue

Day 8 - 28 September 2017 Pink

Day 9 - 29 September 2017 Purple

Here are my 9 looks adhering to the 9 colors of Navratri 

Day 1: Yellow

Day 2: Green

Day 3: Grey

Day 4: Orange

Day 5: White

Day 6: Red

Day 7: Blue

Day 8: Pink

Day 9: Purple

Hope you enjoyed reading and watching. Let me know in comments if you have your 9 color outfits sorted for Navratri this year.

SOnali

For So-Saree