Durga Puja

Month : October/November
Place : West Bengal, India
Famous For : Religious Festival
Attractions : Singing, Dancing, Sweets, Traditional Customs, Worship of Goddess Durga, Huge idols of Durga

Durga Puja is the most popular festival of West Bengal. Celebrated with great prompt & splendor, Durga Puja marks the worship of Goddess Durga. The main highlights of this festival are singing, dancing, sweets & gaiety customs & celebrations. People express good wishes & send Durga Puja Gifts to dear ones.

Durga Puja Celebrations
Durga Puja is a grand festivity, especially in the state of West Bengal. It is celebrated with an unmatched sense of enthusiasm & divinity. Earlier, it was the most expensive of all festivals and could only be performed by the rich and the powerful like feudal lords, rajas and big businessmen. But nowadays, celebrations are carried out on mass scale, involving everyone without any distinction of caste or creed.

The celebration of Durga Puja goes very far back in history and there are abundant references to it in India literature from 12th century onwards. With the passage of time, Puja celebration have changed colors & traditions. The evolution of many clubs, associations and societies have defined the cosmopolitan character of Durga Puja. The social and ritualistic significance of the Puja has also been modified to a great degree. Today, this festival has become an occasion for pageantry and extravaganza. Loud film songs have replaced the age-old conch shells and drums. Popular film actresses are modeled as the goddess. On the flip side, animal sacrifices, a must earlier, have been dispensed with at many places and shrines.

In early years, Durga was worshiped alone, but now the goddess is worshiped with her family. Durga is portrayed as the supreme head and the presence of Ganesha, Kartikeya, Shiva etc marks a wholesome picture of divinity. In southern India celebrations constitute a display of images of God and toys at home for nine days. In spite of variant traditions, ways & customs for Durga Puja in different parts of the country, the feature that is common is the jubilation of divine worship of mother goddess Durga.

Official Website : http://www.durga-puja.org/