Dussehra Celebration

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Dussehra festival is celebrated for 9 days every year.

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Significance of Dussehra:

There are many stories about the significance of Dussehra celebration. One is the victory of good over evil. Goddess Durga fought with a demon Mahishasura for all these 9 days and killed him on Vijaya Dasami. There is also a legend that Rama fought with Ravana and killed him on Vijaya Dasami.

Celebration: 

We celebrate this festival for 9 days by performing puja to Goddess Durga in 9 forms. We offer different prasadams on each day and perform pooja. Many women read Lalitha Sahasra namam and do kumkuma Archana in the evenings.

Day	Avatara	Naivedyam (Offering)
1	Shailaputri Navadurga	Chalimidi (Sweet with rice flour), Vadapappu(soaked moong dal) and Payasam (Kheer)
2	Balatripura Sundari	Sweet Boondi and chickpeas
3	Gayatri Devi	Ravva Kesari and Pulihora
4	Lalita Tripura Sundari Devi	Pulihora (Tamarind Rice) and Pesara Boorelu (Wadas made of lentils)
5	Saraswati Devi	Dadhojanam (Curd rice)/  Atukulu (puffed rice), Jaggery (bellam), Sanagapappu (split skinless chickpeas)
6	Annapurna Devi	Pongal
7	Sri Maha Lakshmi	Ksheerannam (Sweet with rice and milk)/ Jaggery Rice
8	Sri Durga Devi	Gaarelu (Wada) , Lemon rice with Ginger
9	Mahishasura Mardhini	Chakkara Pongali (Sweet made with rice, milk, and Jaggery)

On the 10th day, we worship Sri Rajarajeswari Devi by offering Pulihora (Tamarind Rice) and Garelu (Wada) as naivedyam.

Source: https://hindupad.com/nine-types-of-naivedyam-for-navaratri-in-south-india/

Happy Dussehra

Here are some books to explain Dussehra to Kids:

Other than the puja, we also do Ayudha puja on the ninth day of Navratri, which means, we perform pooja to machines, instruments, weapons, and vehicles. Pooja is done for books and musical instruments also on that day.

Another important celebration is Bommala koluvu. Many idols of different colors and idols of Gods and Goddesses are arranged in a hierarchical way. Hosts arrange small gathering and invite girls and women. During this festival, a few also perform puja to small girls treating them as Goddess Durga and offer them bangles and flowers.

Here are some home decor items for the festival season!

5 piece Marigold garlands

Indian Background decor

Goddess Durga Face cutout

Rangoli Floor decor

So, this is how we celebrate Dussehra in our household. I hope, this Dussehra brings health and happiness to your households.

Until next time,

Explaining Sankranthi to Kids

Sankranthi is an important festival in Telugu household. It is celebrated for 3 days - Bhogi, Sankranthi and Kanuma. 

How to explain the importance of this festival to our kids in this city lifestyle? It's a bit difficult as very few traditions are being followed now. 

Here are a few things about Sankranthi to explain kids in a simple way:

1. Sankranthi is the time when the Sun moves from the southern hemisphere to Northern Hemisphere (transition of Sun from Sagittarius to Capricorn Zodiac sign). This means The Sun becomes closer to us in India and weather becomes warmer slowly. This is also called as 'Makara' sankranthi because of the transition of Sun to zodiac sign Capricorn (Makara raashi).

2. This is basically a harvest festival as farmers celebrate the beginning of Harvest season

3. In villages, there is a tradition of 'Haridasu' coming to every home singing the prayers of Lord Vishnu. We offer rice and money to them.Other traditions include dancing of Gangireddu (decorated bulls make feats before every home as per the clarinet music of owner) and young women placing 'Gobbemmalu' (prepared from Cow dung and decorated with flowers) on rangolis and dancing around it singing songs.

4. On the first day 'Bhogi', People light bonfire with wood and burn old things indicating the new beginning. In the evening, families with infants or children below 3 years old will arrange a small function and shower 'regupallu' (jujube fruits) on their head. This will reduce evil eye on kids. Some families arrange 'Bommala koluvu' on this day, which means arranging idols and toys in an organized way.

5. On the second day, which is Makara Sankranthi, People wear new clothes, do pooja and make offerings to ancestors of the family who died.  

6. The third day is known as Kanuma, when farmers pray and honor the cattle.

7. Sankranthi is special for rangolis made with combining many dots in an organized manner. Women prepare rangolis everyday for this whole month and on the last day of the festival they draw a chariot.

8. Elders and children enjoy flying kites and some people in coastal areas organize cockfights. 

9. Mukkanuma is the fourth day of the festival when non-vegetarians cook and eat meat, fish etc., Usually, people don't eat non-veg for the first three days of the festival.

10. Traditional foods prepared for the festival are arisalu (jaggery sweet with rice flour), appalu, janthikalu (hot snack prepared with rice flour and besan) and garelu (prepared with black gram).

So, here is the information about the celebration of Sankranthi in 'Andhra style'. I hope this information will be helpful to teach your kids about Sankranthi :-)

I wish you all a very Happy Sankranthi.

Until next time,

Image courtesy: Google images labelled for non-commercial reuse.