With Navratri around the corner, Boston is getting ready for all the Garba!
Garba comes from the Sanskrit term Garbha Deep. Garbha, when translated, most closely resembles the English preposition inside, and Deep is a small earthenware lamp. For this reason, many traditional Garbas are performed around a central lit lamp. Traditionally, it is performed during a 9 day festival called Navratri (Nav = 9, Ratri = nights). Navratri celebrates the Goddess Amba as well as other popular Hindu gods and goddesses. This festival, most commonly celebrated by women, that celebrates the Hindu Goddess Amba, the Mother Goddess. Traditionally, either the lamp (the Garba Deep), or an image of Amba is placed in the middle of the concentric rings deliniating the dance, as an object of veneration. People dance around the deity clapping rhythmically.At every step they gracefully bend sideways, the arms coming together in beautiful sweeping gestures, up and down, left and right, each movement ending in clap.

Modern Garba is also heavily influenced by Dandiya, a dance traditionally performed by men, and from which the sticks originate. These sticks, which can vary from 1.5 to 2 feet in length, and is meant to represent the sword of the avenging Goddess Durga. The merger of these two dances has formed the high-energy, exciting dance that is seen today. (Source - Wiki)

Here is a list of all the upcoming Garbas in town starting with the Garba organized by Gurjar this weekend.

10/12 - 8:00 pm   
Garba / Gurjar
Locke Middle School, 110 Allen Road, Billerica, MA 01821
www.gurjar.org

10/12 - 8:00 pm   
Garba / Blackstone Valley Indian Association
Upton Memorial Elementary School, 69 Main Street, Upton, MA
www.bvis.org

10/13 - 8:00 pm   
Garba / Gurjar
Locke Middle School, 110 Allen Road, Billerica, MA 01821
www.gurjar.org

10/13 - 8:00 pm   
Garba / ISW
Marlborough Middle School, Marlbourough, MA
www.iswonline.org

10/20 - 8:00 pm   
Garba / Gurjar
Locke Middle School, 110 Allen Road, Billerica, MA
www.gurjar.org

10/26 - 8:00 pm
Sharad Punima Celebrations with Garba / Patidar Samaj
www.patidarsamajofne.org

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