The Stony Brook University Hindu Students Council hosted the annual Navratri, or “Nine Nights,” celebration in the Student Activities Center ballroom this past weekend. The sold-out Garba celebration included 350 students and families displaying a wide range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds with one thing in common: a reason to celebrate.
The Navratri festival is a celebration of the goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. This entails nine nights of celebration and prayer ending with the last day, Vijayadasami, the festival of the “victory of good over bad.” Traditionally, in the western portion of India, particularly in the state of Gujarat, Navratri is celebrated with the famous Garba and Dandiya dances; however, the celebrations have become very popular worldwide and are performed in various Indian communities all over the United States.
Hitesh Tolani, a resident at Stony Brook Medical Center, says this is his favorite time of the year. Having since moved around several times for schooling, Tolani describes Garba as an event where he “can always make friends.”
“No matter where I am, I can always have a piece of my childhood,” Tolani said.
The Hindu Students Council, or HSC, was founded in 2004 and has since hosted eight Navratri celebrations. Sonal Nadiadhara, vice president of HSC, explains that the importance of this event crosses religious and cultural barriers.
“We really try to keep this open for the whole campus,” Nadiahara said. “It is religious, but it’s not something that other people can’t enjoy either.”
Her advice to those curious few who did not attend: “The best way to learn about [Garba] is to experience it.”
The night opened with an abridged version of the candlelit prayer, aarti. Traditionally, the prayer takes place in the middle or at the end of the celebration, but HSC chose to alter the timing to make the event. Those who want to attend the religious aspect of Garba could do so by attending the beginning of the evening and those who wanted a cultural experience could come after.
“We wanted to leave it open for people to decide what they want to get out of the night,” said senior and president of HSC, Vishnu Rajan.
Students clad in T-shirts and jeans peppered the swirling sea of sparkling, boldly colored saris and laughed and danced to the music. Those new to the Hindu dances were welcomed with smiles and immediately swept onto the dance floor for their first lessons in Garba, a large, circular, group dance andDandiya, a partner dance involving short wooden sticks. Also performed was Bhangra, a fast paced and energetic dance combining Punjabi folk traditions and Western pop music. Refreshments were served later in the evening, catered by House of Dosas.
“By doing something like [Garba], we can work together with other on-campus organizations,” said Rajan. “We’re trying to make this a better campus community for everyone.”
On Nov. 3, HSC will be working together with the Sikh Student Association to celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights. Rajan says that this event will be “an amazing way for the campus community to learn about different ways in which two religions celebrate a similar festival.”