Description of a Religious Festival Essay

Write an essay describing a religious festival you celebrated, mentioning what you saw and did in the festival Religion is a â€Å"collective conscience†, a shared outlook created by ceremonies. Most common religion in India is Hinduism. Hindus celebrate thousands of events every year and each in a similar manner, including chanting prayers to the gods and making sweets. Ram Navmi is also one of the event celebrated Hindus. This occasion has great momentousness therefore it’s a nationwide holiday. It is celebrated two days after the seven navratras. Navratras are the days of ‘pooja’ in which Goddess Durga is worshipped by the people for bringing peace and prosperity in their life. People especially ladies keep fast for the first eight days and open on the ninth day. Goddess Durga have nine different incarnations, worshipped one each day. Havans are done, which is also believed by the people that it’s smoke purify the homes. On the ninth day a bigger ‘havan’ is done and then ladies in the family prepare meals for seven young girls and one boy. These girls are treated with respect as they are considered the different forms of Goddess Durga. They are also given offerings in the form of cash. We also celebrate Ram Navmi and so my mother kept a fast for two days. We could not do havan on the first eight days due to lack of space but on the ninth day we had a ‘pandal’ built, made up of tent cloth which was all red in colour which was to give the event its effect supported by thin logs. A pandit was called to conduct the rights and rituals and my mother prepared food for the girls. The eighth day was hectic for me bit I enjoyed it . my sister and I prepared the invitations cards for the children. They had a silver colored fringe with text in golden and a picture of Lord Ganesha with red background. I went to each one’s house to invite them. I also went to buy eight gifts and keeping in mind their ages I found all the appropriate gifts. Then came the ninth day, I was woke up from my sleep by the ‘shank’ sound. I took my bath and got ready for the function. The ‘havan’ started and gradually the girls also came and there was deluge of tasks poured upon me. I had to bring the bucket full of water to wash the ‘kanyas’ feet. Then I went to help the pandit with ‘ghee’,’yoghurt’, etc.