Hinduism is the world’s third-largest religion and Hindu worship varies in different areas of India. On Saturday and Sunday, Hindu students across campus celebrated various religious festivals including Navratri, Durga Puja, and Bijoya.

“Navratri is a Hindu festival that is celebrated for nine nights,” junior Shreya Jagan said. “The way we celebrate Navratri is that we set up a staircase of different levels filled with different bommais (small statues or dolls) of different deities, figurines, and anything that represents culture, beauty, and has a specific meaning to us. So the first three days of Navratri are dedicated to Goddess Durga, the next three are dedicated to Goddess Lakshmi, and the final three are dedicated to Goddess Saraswati.”

Varying from region to region, some Bengali Hindu students also celebrated Durga Puja and Bijoya.

“Durga Puja is another Hindu festival (typically celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam) that marks the victory of goddess Durga in her battle against Mahishasura, representing the victory of good over evil,” senior Anurupa Roy said via text. “Every other year, along with the rituals we do at home, we go to the Durga Puja of our Bengali community here and it’s always a lot of fun because I get to dress nice, hang out with my friends and eat a lot of food!”

Following Durga Puja comes Bijoya, which in Hindu mythology marks the return of the Goddess Durga after her victory.

“We say ‘shubho bijoya’ means “happy victory” which commemorates the goddess Durga’s return to her home with her children,” senior Ananda Ghoshal said via text. “So to celebrate, my family dresses up, in new clothing- so I wore a new sari, my brother wore a new kurta and my mom wore a new sari and jewelry as well.”

Usually, these festivals are celebrated in large gatherings at the temple with friends and family, however, COVID-19 has changed the way students worshipped this year.

“Usually, they rent out a school for the weekend and have the puja there, but since they didn’t have an in-person puja this year, they rented out this banquet hall instead and only a few of the priests and the people on the committee were present,” Roy said. “They still did all of the puja rituals, but they streamed it live on their Facebook page. We watched that and we did the puja at our house and my mom made a lot of good food. So even though this year’s celebration wasn’t like every year it was still amazing!”