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'The important thing to remember is that it's a spiritual festival'
October 6, 2008
From a raised platform in the back, one can see the entire dancing ground, all the way up to the stage. It's entirely and completely occupied with gyrating flesh and glittering accessories, as thousands dance themselves into frenzy. Because they're of different sizes, moving at different speeds and seem to be buttressing one another, the spinning circles look like the gears to some giant, complicated machine.
"The important thing to remember," explains Chetan, "is that Navratri is a spiritual festival. It may seem like just another party, but it is important to our Gujarati culture and spirituality. It's like Christmas for Christians: you celebrate with your family and have fun, surely, but it is also a very religious time."
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And though, at one time, Chetan was considered a master dandiya dancer, today he's (literally) passed the baton. His teenaged children, in full costume, are dancing and playing, while Chetan mans his food stall. But where did his children learn the dance? "From me, of course," says Chetan, smiling.
That's a repeated concept when discussing Navratri with the celebrants: of experience, tradition, passing down one's culture. "It's in our blood," says one of the most proficient teenaged dandiya dancers. "I've been coming to dance since I was just a baby. My children will do the same. It's about keeping the tradition alive and also having fun."
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