Navaratri

We had a special exciting outing this evening after school. My friend Vasu invited us to come to a special Navaratri celebration at the Thomas Center. (In case you don't want to click that link,  Navaratri is a Hindu festival of worship of Shakti, the divine feminine creative power. The celebration consists of dancing and eating and often displays of dolls... Among other great things.) 

When we got there, there were a group of young girls dancing, and Resli and Lela were immediately entranced.

After the dancing we went in to look at the displays they had set up. We walked in and Resli gasped, "Ooh, look, it's Christmas!" It did kind of look like it, with lights and mini scenes set up.

Everyone was so nice and explained all the stories and meanings to us, and I was surprised at how interested both Resli and Lela were. 

It was interesting trying to explain things like the flood that lasted days and days and the one person who was instructed to build a boat and put all the animals on it... but of course in the Hindu version is not named Noah. I don't know if they got it or not, but they were enjoying themselves.

Resli's highlight though, hands down, was talking to two of the girls who had been dancing before. I had explained that the dance moves told a story, so she asked these girls what the story was. They explained it to her (so she says, I didn't hear and nor would she repeat for me!), and then asked them if they would take a picture with her.  

Afterwards we had a picnic out by the fountain. No good pictures of that but I did want to point out that I had Kennedy in her elephant bib quite by accident, but it seemed fitting for an Indian festival!