Saraswati Pooja

Photo Courtesy of Dimpy Kamra

I went to a Saraswati Pooja. Its a festival to celebrate the Saraswati; the Goddess of Wisdom. We went with some of our classmates and followed there lead. When we got there we had to take off our shoes and sit inside the tent facing the alter; boys on the left and the girls in a section off to the right. There was a man in yellow whom is traditionally a priest or the eldest son in the family, he led us in the ceremony. Some of the men were even blowing conch shells, and their was a man playing a drum. The main offerings were fruits of various sorts and flowers.

Once the ceremony began, we all stood near the alter while some people passed out flower petals, these we had to grab with our right hand. We had to press our palms together and a Havan (Hymn) was repeated. We handed back our flowers with the right hand and this whole process was repeated 4 times. After the Havan's, we had to place our hand over flames of incense and put our hands up and over our heads.

Then we all went to eat on the other side of the tent. We sat on a large blanket facing each other and people came around to serve us. We talked and ate and overall it was a very interesting experience and I'm glad I could partake.