garba
the pot
Garba Deep is the name given to a clay pot, usually perforated and decorated on the outside with a hand made Diva ( wick ) made of ghee and cotton, lit and placed inside the pot. Garba means a womb and the Deep means light. The light represents the Divine shining through the perforations and the pot symbolises the womb universe. The Garba Deep has another symbolic interpretation, that the vessel itself is a symbol of the body, within whom Divinity (in the form of the Goddess) resides. Garba is danced around this symbol to honor the fact that all humans have the Divine energy within them
garba is devoted to celebration of fertility and the feminine
the dance
The dances which are performed around the pot are called Garba. Initially women will start dancing in a counter clockwise circular form around the pot, with each dancer following the same sweeping motion, with differing vigour and passion, and clapping at regular and frequent phases. The dances celebrate femininity and fertility and venerate a range of divine mother goddesses The central pot is also joined with or replaced by images or sculptures of the mother goddesses. There are many styles and forms of the dance, and it is suitable for all ages and conditions. Men do sometimes join in the garba dance but it is in the main a feminine activity
the songs
The songs and tunes to which the Garba dance takes place, are also known as Garba or Garbis. These compositions have been handed down over the generations and their words and themes range from the spiritual to the social, and are mainly in praise and honour of the various mother goddesses associated with Navratri.These dances take place in the main during a period of nine nights known as Navratri ( literally meaning nine nights ) Navratri is a festival of dance and devotion in honour and praise of various forms, aspects and manifestations of Hindu Mother Goddesses.
circular
Garba is performed in a circle as a symbol of the Hindu view of time. The rings of dancers revolve in cycles, as time in Hinduism is cyclical. As the cycle of time revolves, from birth, to life, to death and again to rebirth, the only thing that is constant is the Goddess, that one unmoving symbol in the midst of all of this unending and infinite movement. The dance symbolizes that God, represented in feminine form in this case, is the only thing that remains unchanging in a constantly changing universe.
