On Saturday, September 23, Stony Brook University celebrated the Indian festival of Navaratri. It was held in Pritchard Gymnasium at the Sports Complex. Around 80 SBU students and members of the Stony Brook community attended the celebration.

Navaratri, the longest Hindu festival, is celebrated for nine consecutive nights in praise of Lord Rama (the protagonist of the Indian epic, Ramayana) and Goddess Durga. It takes place from the end of September to early October. The celebration featured a devotional dance called Garba in praise of Durga, followed by a prayer to the Goddess.

Participants best enjoyed a dandiya ras, a type of dance where men and women move in circular formations while holding small sticks in their hands.’ The dance starts out slow and progressively gets faster and faster until all of the individuals in the dance cannot keep up the pace.’ The participants used two sticks that were struck with the beat of the music.’

The celebration ended around midnight.’ ‘ Navratri, a holiday routinely celebrated with dandiya ras and prayers for a total of 8 days,’ is now gaining widespread popularity all over the United States, especially on college campuses.