Happy Dussehra

Dussehra is the festival in the Hindu calendar which celebrates the victory of Lord Rama over the demon Ravana, thus symbolizing the triumph of good over evil.   In India, the build up to the festival is over nine nights with the tenth day being celebrated as "Dussehra".  I miss the festivities the most living away from India.  The music, the dancing, visiting friend's houses and the traditional 'Haldi kumkum' in the West and the giving of 'Vetala Pak' in the South - all things I grew up with.  

Living so many miles away from home, we don't always get to celebrate all the festivals with the fervour that we would were we living in India.  I love that festivals in India are so colourful, so vibrant and so full of life. 

I wanted to involve little miss J in making something for the house this Dussehra.  So we decided to handcraft a 'Toran'.  A 'Toran' refers to a decorative door hanging, usually decorated with marigold flowers and leaves of the mango tree, or a string that is tied on the door with the flower on it as a part of traditional Hindu culture. A Toran may feature colours such as green, yellow and red. 

I cut out some leaf shapes out of cardboard and little miss J painted them. 

I had made some flowers out of tissue paper. They actually look a lot like marigolds!!

Then I took some garden twine and stuck the leaves and flowers with some double sided tape.  Our 'Toran' now hangs on our door and will stay there till Diwali comes around - I'll follow that up with a separate post :).