October 5th 2013 begins nine days of celebrating the Hindu
Goddesses as forms of Shakti, the divine feminine energy.
Durga (Day 1-3)
Durga is a warrior Goddess. She rides a lion or a tiger and she wears bright
red. On each day she is also honored in one of her different
forms: Kumari, Parvati and Kali. They represent the three different
types of femininity: child, young woman, and adult woman.
Lakshmi (Day 4-6)
Lakshmi (Laxmi) is the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. She rides an owl
and dresses in gold.
Saraswati (Day 7-9)
The Goddess of wisdom, Saraswati dresses in pure white and rides a white
swan.
The most widely accepted account
of the nine forms of Durga is the one found in the Devi Mahatmya – Sailaputri,
Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skanda Mata, Katyayani, Kalaratri,
Maha Gowri and Siddhidatri.
The nine forms of Durga are
worshipped during the nine days of Navaratri.
some regions Navratri is considered to be the period of time when Rama spent
nine days praying to the Goddess Durga in her nine different forms in order to
get the strength to defeat Ravana and save Sita. Dussehra is then celebrated as
the day that Rama killed Ravana.
some regions Navratri is a celebration of the Goddess Durga defeating a buffalo
demon named Mahishasura, whom she fought for nine days and killed on
Dussehra. In fact, the legend of this story says that Durga was created by the
combined power of all the Gods, including the trinity, because they could not
defeat Mahishasura.