Durga Puja: What the Festival Means and How It Is Celebrated
In December 2021, UNESCO added Durga Puja in Kolkata to its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The great festival in honor of the goddess Durga is especially closely tied to West Bengal and Kolkata. What lies behind the festival, and how is it celebrated? This article introduces the goddess, describes how the celebrations unfold in Kolkata and shows where the festival is observed outside India.
What Is Durga Puja?
The festival takes place in the fall, usually in September or October. Because it is so closely linked to West Bengal, it is often called a Bengali festival. It is not limited to one place, however, as you will read below. Since the date shifts from year to year, it is worth checking the current calendar before you make plans.
The goddess Durga stands at the center of the festival. Her images are placed at the sites of worship and form the heart of the festive decoration. All the other elements serve to honor her as well. What follows therefore looks at where these images are set up, what they are made of and how the festival ends.
How Is It Celebrated in Kolkata?
In Kolkata, pandals are put up for the duration of the festival. These are elaborately decorated structures in which the images of the goddess stand. They serve as places of worship only during the celebrations and are not permanent temples. That temporary character is part of the festival.
The images of the goddess are usually made of clay. The material also matters at the close, because at the end of the festival the images are immersed in water. This ritual is called Visarjan, and it marks the end of the celebrations. The clay figure that stood in the pandal is handed over to the water.
If you do not know the tradition, you can remember the sequence through three elements: goddess, pandal and water. The festival is held in honor of the goddess, the pandal gives her images a temporary home, and the celebration finds its conclusion in the water.
Durga Puja in Germany and Other European Countries
The festival is not limited to India. It is celebrated wherever Bengali communities live, including in Europe. The celebrations usually take place in a setting that suits local conditions, so there is no single standard form. Places and dates have to be checked for each event separately.
In Germany too, the festival can take place in such a setting and make Indian traditions visible in local community life. For anyone interested in Indian culture here, it offers a good way into those traditions.
Why the Festival Is Worth a Look
Durga Puja combines religion, craftsmanship and city community life. Clay images, temporarily built pandals and the ritual of Visarjan show that both the design of the festival and its symbolic ending carry meaning. The UNESCO listing in December 2021 refers to the festival in Kolkata, with which it is especially closely linked.