Celebrating Navaratri In New Jersey

In our melting pot country, immigrants from India teach us the dances of the Goddess during Sharad poonay (fall in the evening) when Navaratri "Nine Evenings" is celebrated. Navaratri: India goddess celebration Monday, October 29, 2007 By SANDRA JOHNSON MILLVILLE -- In India, folks dance for nine nights straight in multicolored robes and dresses during the full moon in the fall. They dance for one of nine goddesses each night, and even the food and decorations are exotic and beautiful. On Saturday, the Friends of India Society came together to share their dance and culture of Navaratri at Millville's Holly Heights School. Before the dance, women readied a figurine of the goddess Amba, enclosed in a glass case, with candles, incense and red-painted decorations. Most of the decorations were red dots, but on one of the trays was a symbol that looked like a swastika, but it was backward. The women said that the symbol represented good luck and the four directions: North, south, east and west. One woman stacked copper pots and also painted a dot on each one. Latish Menghani, the Friends' vice president, explained that traditional India costume for men, a tunic and pants, is called kurta pajama, and women wore a dress and sash, called chania choli. Sharad poonay, or fall in the full moon, is when they celebrate Navaratri, or nine evenings, he said. One of the organizers, Yogesh Thakur, said that even the doodh poha, meaning milk and rice puffs, signifies the full moon during the event. Like the milky white dessert, "the rays of the moon cool (things) down," Thakur said. During the evening, women and men danced in a circle with steps backward then forward, with twists and turns and hand claps, to traditional western music. The group offered the public lessons for two of the dances, Garba and Raas, and also danced the Bhangra and Aarti. Garba was the dance for the goddess Amba. The Friends' said that the main objectives of Navaratri here in Millville are to bring together natives of India in the community, to teach the children their culture, and to show the public their culture. "I hope that people that don't celebrate this will learn something from it," said Deepam (Raju) Patel, another member of the Friends' organizing committee. "This brings community together." Ashish and Shital Shah, who own a business in Millville and live in Vineland, fondly remember Navaratri in India. "When I was a kid, I started dancing at seven at night and danced until four in the morning," he said. "I didn't work all the next week." The Shahs said that doing the traditional nine nights would be impossible here in America, because people are busy working and raising their families. But would they do it if they could? "I wish I could do all nine nights," Ashish said. "I would do it, no problem," Shital added.