Do your parents tell you to do diva or aarti daily? Parents who are somewhat religious or spiritual will insist that you do diva or aarti once a day. In our busy life styles we don’t have time to do the whole parti but it is worth taking out 5 minutes from your schedule. I believe there are many personal reasons why we do this and the basic reasons are as follows. 1. Gratitude: this is the moment to thank the Universe/ God for all you have been given. A simple act of lighting

The lamp has its own special place in Gujarati traditions as it represents leading us from darkness into the light. While the oil lamp is more prevalent than one lit with ghee (Clarified Butter) because it burns longer, because ghee is extracted from the milk of cows, considered sacred, and ghee is the purest form of the butter, it goes to be that ghee embodies the highest qualities, making it very different from oil. One daily spiritual practice in the Gujarati tradition in

We all have different ways to worship. Some of us go to temples and churches to show our devotions to a statue or a holy place. Some of us meditate and connect with the divine source to worship who we truly are. Some of us respect and revere that higher power to worship something bigger than us. Some of us follow rituals and traditions to show devotion and worship. Some may choose to worship the darker forces or some of us refuse to acknowledge that there is something to wors

On the sixth day after the birth of a baby, this ritual known as Chhathi pooja is performed. As with other Gujarati traditions associated with the birth of a child, this one is also very interesting. It is performed on the sixth day after a baby’s birth – chhathi na lekh. According to folklore, there was a belief that on the 6th day after the birth of the child, Vidhaata (Goddess of Destiny) would quietly enter the house around midnight to pen the destiny of the newborn. Trad

There are many traditions and rituals that are unique to a Gujarati family. It begins with birth. There are many performed upon arrival of a new born baby. One of them is the baby’s first hair cut known as Baabri. In other Indian cultures it is known as Mundan. This is a rite of passage for this new soul arriving in this world. There are many beliefs behind why it is done. Hair grows back nice and thickHelps keep the baby’s head coolIt is to get rid of the past life’s negativ

In this blog series we will be exploring different rituals and traditions of Gujarati culture and we shall begin with Gujarati Wedding. There are so many traditions associated with Gujarati weddings as normally it is a 3-4 day affair. Let’s begin with the pre-wedding rituals. Gujarati Wedding Rituals: Engagement Many Gujarati marriages are still arranged. However nowadays couples fall in love or find each other first before they disclose their intention of marrying each other

In this blog series we will be exploring different rituals and traditions of Gujarati culture and we shall begin with Gujarati Wedding. There are so many traditions associated with Gujarati weddings as normally it is a 3-4 day affair. Let’s begin with the pre-wedding rituals. Gujarati Wedding Rituals: Pithi/Haldi Gujarati weddings are at least 2-3 days long as there are so many different vidhis (rituals) to follow. This is true for all Hindu weddings be it Bengali, Tamil, Mar

Gujarati wedding traditions – Mandap Mahoorat/Ganesh Sthaapnaa/Thaambli Poojan Some of you may have walked into a Gujarati home in India and see a poster or a mural of Ganapati(Lord Ganesh) in the living room of a house especially in small villages. This is most likely from someone in that house getting married and performing the ritual of Ganesh Sthaapanaa — which in Gujarati language means actual presence of that deity in that house . This will include the bride or the groo