Why is navratri celebrated?

Answer 1

Navaratri is celebrated because Amba maa and other goddesses like (chamunda, khodiyar,bauchar,kali,momai etc in gujrat) are belived to have fought and destroyed evils and demons from the earth (such a mahisasur,chand mund, dhumralochan) in order to obtain peace . Gujaratis belive that these goddeses fought with these demons are were victorious. In the ramayan lord ram and the vanar sena (monkey army) were all worshipping mataji at this particular days. Navaratri is for nine days. Nava= nine ratri = nights . In gujrat and other rural states mainly gujarat and Mumbai navarati is celebrated by garba and dandiya which is a dance to celebrate the victory of the goddesses garbo's and poojas are often kept at this time. Other states like Punjab keep mata ki chowks at places which is jagrans (staying awake all night worshipping goddeses) They worship by doing aarti's offering flowers and singing religious hymms. After nine days Mataji is given vidai. Some other states do durga pooja were they worship the maa and then preform a visarjan a bit like ganpati viasraj where mataji is put in the water. At this stage all castes, demoninatios, and staes iof India are all emotional as maatjis vidai takes place (she leaves). However bhakts wait for her next year to celebrate it again in that sprirt and joy. It is a very colourful victoriuos and joyful event espcially in Gujarat havent experianced other state navaratris apart from Gujarati style sure they must be good as well.