Navratri Preparation Checklist

24 items · Lifestyle · Medium difficulty · 1 week

Get ready for all nine nights of Navratri: the Ghatasthapana setup, akhand jyot, fasting pantry, garba outfits, Kanya puja and Dussehra.

• Confirm this year's dates and the Ghatasthapana muhurat

  The auspicious time to set up the kalash on the first morning changes every year. Check a panchang or ask your family priest.

• Clean the house, starting with the puja area
• Set up a chowki and cover it with a red cloth
• Place the image or idol of Goddess Durga on it
• Buy the Ghatasthapana items

  Usually a kalash, mango leaves, a coconut, mauli thread, rice, and a clay pot with soil.

• Buy barley (jau) seeds to sow on the first day

  Sown in the clay pot, they sprout over the nine days.

• Stock ghee or oil and wicks for the akhand jyot, if your family keeps one

  Buy enough for nine days and nights of burning.

• Stand the lamp on a metal plate, clear of curtains, flowers and fan drafts
• Agree who checks and refills the lamp at night
• Decide which days each person will fast

  Some keep all nine, some only the first and last. Anyone pregnant, diabetic or on daily medication should ask their doctor before a long fast.

• Stock the fasting flours

  Kuttu (buckwheat), singhara (water chestnut) and rajgira (amaranth). Buy small, fresh packs and check the date; do not use last year's.

• Buy sendha namak (rock salt)

  Many fasting households use it in place of ordinary table salt.

• Buy sabudana, samak rice, potatoes, peanuts, milk and fruit
• Write a rough menu for the fasting days

  Sabudana khichdi, kuttu puri and aloo, and makhana are easy to rotate.

• Arrange fresh flowers for each day's puja

  Marigolds and red hibiscus are common choices for Durga.

• Check this year's list of nine colors, if you dress by them

  The color for each day changes from year to year.

• Get garba or dandiya outfits ready
• Buy dandiya sticks
• Book passes for the garba nights you want to attend

  Popular venues in big cities can sell out before the first night.

• Invite the girls for Kanya puja on Ashtami or Navami

  Families who keep it often invite nine young girls, and some invite one boy as well.

• Plan the Kanya puja meal

  Puri, black chana and sooji halwa is the usual plate in North India.

• Buy small gifts for each girl

  Bangles, a red chunri, stationery or a little cash.

• Find where your town holds Ramlila and the Dussehra effigy burning, if it does
• Close the puja the way your family does, including what happens to the barley sprouts

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