नवरात्रि

Navratri, Navaratri, or Navarathri (Hindi: नवरात्रि; Tamil: நவராத்திரி; Sanskrit: नवरात्रम्; Marathi: नवरात्र; Gujarati: નવરાત્રી; Nepali: नवरात्रि; Bengali:নবরাত্রি; Kannada: ನವರಾತ್ರಿ; Telugu: దుర్గా నవరాత్రులు; Malayalam: നവരാത്രി) is a Hindu festival of worship of Shakti and dance & festivities. The wordNavaratri literally means nine nights in Sanskrit, nava meaning nine and ratri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, nine forms ofShakti/Devi are worshiped. The 10th day is commonly referred to as Vijayadashami or Dussehra.

Type	Major [Hindu] Festival.
Begins	September/October
Ends	October/November
Date	Usually Sept-November. The date changes as per lunar calender.
2010 date	October 8 - October 16
2011 date	September 28 - October 6
Celebrations	9-10 days

The beginning of spring and the beginning of autumn are two very important junctions of climatic and solar influence. These two periods are taken as sacred opportunities for the worship of the Divine Mother. The dates of the festival are determined according to the lunar calendar.

Navaratri represents celebration of Goddess Durga, the manifestation of Deity in form of Shakti [Energy or Power]. The Navaratri festival or ‘Nine Nights festival’ becomes ‘ten days festival’ with the addition of the last day, Vijayadashami which is its culmination. On all these ten days, the various forms of Mother Mahisasura-mardini (Durga) are worshipped with fervor and devotion