There are many customs and rituals that are followed during this festival that have a special significance.
Durga puja in Bengal is just not a custom, tradition, or festival but, it has become a lifestyle. Durga puja is a 9-day long festival that is celebrated on a grander scale in Bengal. It is celebrated to mark the victory of goddess Durga over the demon Mahisasura. Goddess Durga is a symbol of woman empowerment, and in most Bengali households women are empowered the same as Durga.
Navratri or Durga puja is celebrated in many states on a larger scale but nothing can be compared to the excitement that the people of Bengal show up to this festival. There are many customs and rituals that are followed during this festival that have a special significance.
1. Anjali
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While the priests perform the rites and rituals associated with the worship of the goddess, everyone else gets to pay their respect through Pushpanjali. Anjali takes place on Ashtami. The auspicious hour for Anjali is always in the morning. It is customary to fast until you have offered the day’s Anjali. At the scheduled hour, everyone bathed and dressed in new clothes, gather in front of the goddess, clutching a fistful of flowers along with bel leaves. They repeat the mantra after the priest and throw the flowers at the goddess in the end. Three TO five rounds of floral offerings take place.
2. Dhunuchi Naach
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Dhunuchi Naach is a devotional dance performed to thank Goddess Durga as a vote of way to Maa Durga withinside the night Durga aarti. Dhunuchi Nach is a high spirit dance that is performed on the beats of Dhak. The Dhunuchi is known to have self-insulating and purifying properties and hence offered to the Devi, in the quintessential Bengali attire.
3. Sindoor khela
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On Dashami, the goddess bid farewell before being taken out for immersion in the river, one of the rituals includes Sindur Khela. Married women get ready in their traditional Bengali attire and offer sindoor and sweets to the goddess Durga. After that, they smear each other with the. Of late, unmarried women have also started participating in sindoor khela.
4. Visarjan
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The goddess is taken out in a procession for Bisorjon or immersion in the river, According t the beliefs, through this procession goddess Durga returns to Mount. The idols are carried on a truck up to the river bank. Then the idols are placed on a boat and taken to the middle of the river for immersion. West Bengal Tourism and many private tour operators arrange for boat cruises to observe the immersion ceremony.
5. Kumari puja
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Kumari Puja takes place on Ashtami (eighth day). It's a ritual a few girls are selected to worship as the living incarnation of Durga. They are exactly dressed as goddess Durga. Also, they share a stage same as the goddess Durga.
