Festival
India, a land of cultural and religious diversity has many significant and extraordinary celebrations termed festivals. An event of celebration, typically for religious, national reasons. It can be one day or more than one day when people gather together to celebrate that event and enjoy the occasion. It brings joy, happiness, and enjoyment in one's life and each festival has its significance which helps to teach a lesson to generations sometimes about our ancestor's hard work, dedication, and commitments and sometimes about their life, struggles, and sacrifices.
Festivals differ according to different locations, cultures, and practices performed by people. Festivals are mainly categorized into three types-
- Religious festival
- National festival
- Seasonal festival
Religious festivals are based on the beliefs and customs of people. Here comes the religious significance of people which is the basic factor of celebrating this festival.
National festivals are the pride of a country. India celebrates three national festivals, Republic day (26 January), Independence Day (15 August), and Gandhi Jayanti (2 October). These festivals symbolize patriotism among Indians and give a motivational message to every individual.
Seasonal festivals are celebrated according to seasonal crops or according to seasons. When the crop is cultivated and after harvesting many festivals are celebrated at different places by different customs.
Women's role in festival
In every festival, there is a lot of preparation or arrangement to be done to celebrate festivals where women play a significant role in making them enjoyable for everyone. Women are the key players who make all the arrangements from making sweets to decorating the house, praying to God to making delicious dishes.
Everything from starting to finishing the work or even after the festival is carried out by the women. The leftover work after the completion of the celebration is taken as the responsibility of women. Women decide what to cook in the house, how to clean the house, and get everything ready on time so that they do not need to be troublesome at the last moment.
Women take care of every family member and give love to them, this shows her sight of kindness and care.
Importance of women in festival
Festivals are no less than a special or hectic day in women's life. Special because of the happy moments, cultural practices, and gathering of all family members while hectic because of the workload of preparations.
Participation of women in festivals is a must because without women every festival is incomplete as we worship goddesses on almost every festival so if the woman whom we consider as Laxmi of the house is not present then there is no point in celebrating that festival.
Women make every festival or occasion colorful with their charming presence. Women are like those lights on Diwali without which the house looks dark, like those colors without which life is colorless, like those charms without which nothing can be sensed as amazing and dazzling.
Women are not only the makers of the world, but they are also the makers of happiness, pride, gloom, and prosperity. Women with their routine work also make time to do all the preparations regarding festivals or occasions and with that, they properly take care of their loved ones and make every possible effort to give them what they desire.
Women are like the pillars of the house upon whose shoulder the roof (men) of the house rests. They consistently do work on festivals without even focusing on themselves, just doing better every day.
Diwali: lightning festival of India
It celebrates the victory of good over evil. It emphasizes women empowerment as maa Sita(incarnation of goddess Laxmi) is rescued from fearsome king Ravan. It talks about the dignity of a woman, that the kingdom of Ravan was destroyed as he had hurt the sentiments of a woman and tried to defame her dignity. After the rescue of Maa Sita by her husband Ram, when they reached back to Ayodhya (their birthplace), they were welcomed by everyone with the lighting of diyas everywhere.
Navratri: nine nights dedicated to goddess Durga
Navratri is a festival that is celebrated in honor of the goddess Durga. It is a span of nine consecutive nights where a girl is worshipped in the form of Goddess Durga as it symbolizes the purity and love of a woman. It also celebrates the victory of good over bad. It has been said that the supreme goddess Adishakti, shows her nine forms in these nine days which empowers a woman's power.
Teej: dedicated to goddess Parvati
Teej is celebrated on the third day after the new moon of Shravana month.
It commemorates the union of Lord Shiva and Maa Parvati after 107 bith of Maa Parvati. It is celebrated by Indian women for the well-being of their husbands. It signifies the penance made by the goddess Parvati to receive Lord Shiva as her husband. It determines the dedication of a woman.
Karwa Chauth: fast for the long life of your husband
There was a woman named Savitri who took back the life of her husband Satyavan from Yama, the god of death as she was a devoted and loyal wife, so in this context, the festival of karwa chauth is celebrated. Women celebrate this festival by fasting for a whole day without even taking water, for the longevity of their husband and to protect him from all evils. This shows a woman's love, strength, dedication, and devotion.
Raksha Bandhan: bond between brother and sister
this festival is wholly dedicated to the love and affection between a brother and sister. On this day, the sister tied a band (Raksha sutra or Rakhi) on the wrist of her brother and prayed to god for the long life of their brother, in return, the brother promised to protect her sister from evil or bad.
Conclusion
Women themselves are a symbol of love, they believe in the philosophy of love and embrace the environment with their love. All the Goddesses worshipped in India signify the love, strength, and power that a woman holds and these are symbolised in the character of every woman that's why they are termed as 'Devi'.
A Dynamiclady ~ Anshika Rajput
contact - anshika@dynamiclady.in