Navratri Golu Ideas - How To Keep Golu / Kolu At Home

Hi friends,

Wish u all a very happy Navratri.I would like to start Navratri 2016 with this basic post on “How to celebrate Navarathri,i.e. how to keep golu at home”.This post is mainly for beginners and of course for my future reference.It would be more of essays with pictures,just read on .

Navratri is a nine days festival for Goddess durga that is celebrated all over India in various ways.In hindi/sanskrit,the word Navratri refers to “Nine nights”.During these nine nights,nine forms of Goddess Shakti are worshipped and the tenth day is celebrated as “Dussehra or Vijayadasami”.Usually the first set of three days is for Durga,the second three days is for Lakshmi and the last three days is for Saraswathi.Saraswathi pooja/ayudha pooja is celebrated on the ninth day of this festival.This year 2016,Navratri begins on Saturday i e. 1st October.In Tamil nadu,Navarathri is celebrated by keeping Golu in houses.Golu means”Display”.It is the display of all idols and dolls representing major deities.Its a belief that Goddess is present in our house in all these nine days and we treat her offering Sundal and sweets as neivedyam.Some people go for fasting(Vrat) and they make no onion no garlic &  strictly no non-veg recipes on all these days. Interested people can make Park , Zoo and some theme based golu set up too.I have shared some pics of park, artificial pond from my MIL's golu.
Suppose if you are not able to keep kolu on all the nine days,you can keep it just for 3 days.Usually last set of 3 days would be fine as you can celebrate Saraswathi pooja along with golu setup :)

My MIL has the practice of keeping Golu/Kolu in salem home every year on all the nine days.She invites all our neighbours in the evening to visit our golu and give them thaamboolam ( a small pack of gifts including turmeric,kumkum,mirror,comb,blouse pieces along with betel leaf (vethalai) & pakku) and Sundal prasadam.Golu can be kept either in a grand manner with 9 or 11 steps OR just in a simple form with 3 steps.All u need is just interest,some creativity and passion.So in this post,i have given some golu ideas to help beginners and for my future reference too asking my MIL.I also referred sites like Wikpedia,yahoo and howtodothings & ecards.com for more details.For keeping golu at home,there are certain procedures to be followed in arranging the dolls in steps/tier.All these  details are shared below.These are the pictures of our last year golu.I have updated our last year’s golu picture below.I was super excited to see my Mil's golu as we have  bought Dasavathar & Ashta lakshmi set with some new idols.

DISCLAIMER : The information & pictures i have shared below are completely based on our house golu.It may differ slightly with the authentic ones.Friends please excuse .Please leave your thoughts in comment section if anything needs to be corrected!

Here is the picture of my MIL's 2015 Golu :)

IMPORTANT THINGS NEEDED FOR KEEPING GOLU

Special thanks to my FIL for sharing this golu stand picture with me 

• Readymade golu steps or steps made using tables and boxes ( number of steps should be 3,5,7 or9) ( refer picture for Golu stand/golu padi)
• A white cloth ( dhoti/Veshti) OR some colorful sarees.
• Safety pins & bell pins for tucking the cloth with the stand.
• Kalasam/Kalash/Poorana kumbham ( an auspicious set up of brass pot/Sombu with rice,dal covered with mango leaves & coconut on top of it)
• Mirror
• Marapachi dolls ( Raja,Rani),New idols of gods or the ones u use traditionally.
• Dasavatharam set,Ashta lakshmi set,Ganesha set & kalyana set (optional to keep)
• Idols of saints,freedom fighters & some kids toys( whichever u have in your house)
• A set of serial light and some decorative lamps.
• Flower pond
• Things for making park and other creative ideas

DO's & DONT's

Do's

1. Take bath daily( Preferrably Head bath) on all the 9 days.
2. Wear clean clothes.
3. Do not eat non-veg food if possible no onion, no garlic veg food.
4. Draw small kolam everyday in front of golu
5. Offer flowers to God in the display daily.
6. Light lamp in the morning and evening.
7. Offer some neivedyam both in the morning and evening.You can keep some rice varieties in the morning and have the same for your lunch. Keep some sundal varieties or sweets in the evening. If you are not able to prepare any special recipes for neivedyam, keep some fruits, kalkandu/ rock candy, jaggery or dry grapes.
8. Do Mangala harathi and recite some slokhas everyday.
9. Invite & give thamboolam for married ladies and young girls in the evening.
10. You should study in front of Saraswathi on Vijayadasami day.

Dont's

1. Do not stitch the clothes at home during these nine days. 
2. Do not cut your nails. Do not cut the hair. Avoid hair cut even in saloon
3. Do not dust your house ( Otrai adikarathu) but you can sweep your house.
4. Do not eat non-veg food
5. Do not study on Saraswathi pooja day

HOW TO ARRANGE THE DOLLS IN STEPS

Three days before golu,u have to put Mulaipari ( ie u should grow grains in a plate filled with sand.U can use methi seeds,horsegram or ragi).For this,Wash and soak the grains overnight.The next day drain the water & set aside.Take a small tray with rim and fill it half with sand.Stud the grains and spread a layer of sand over it.Sprinkle some water and keep it in sun for few hours & in shade for two days.Sprinkle water whenever needed(never pour water).Small plants will come up.U should keep this in front of the golu.So keep it ready. Refer above for DO's & DONT's.

• On mahalaya amavasya day,Golu steps are to be set by covering with cloth and it has to be ready.U can use the readymade golu padi/Golu steps or use some old boxes,tables,chairs etc to make steps.But keep in mind,the munber of steps should be 3,5,7 or 9.Keep the golu steps in the corner of the house(facing East or North) by resting on the wall.Usually Golu is kept facing east.
• You can arrange the dolls on amavasya day night after 6pm or the next day after paatimugam/Pradhamai time.Remember if you have arranged all the dolls and keep the kalasam, you should start doing the pooja with neivedyam. Keeping Kalasam is more important. No matter even if you arrange all the dolls, keep the kalasam at the right time and start the pooja. Kalasam/Kalas should be placed in the center of the top most step. For making kalasam,take a brass pot/sombu and fill it with rice and toor dal with some coins till its neck.Alternatively you can fill the kalasam with water adding cardamom,jathikai and other scented spices along with some coins.Then keep mango leaves in the sides and place a coconut over it.(Refer picture).The mango leaves should not be changed even if they go dry.Behind the kalasam,u should place a mirror.Here kalasam is considered as Goddess Durga.So keep a mirror such that kalasam should be seen on it.
• In the first step,keep the kalasam in the center.Next to kalasam on both the sides,u should keep Ganesha,Durga,Lakshmi & saraswathi idols.

• In the second step,u should keep two marapachi dolls(wooden dolls,see the arrow) a pair of male & female in the center by wearing saree,jewels and dhoti and u can decorate the couples as u wish.Arrange the other dieties like vishnu,shiva and Dasavathar set,krishna set etc on the second and third steps.There is no hard and fast rule as to which deity goes where, but generally, the top steps are reserved for deities, while the bottom steps are occupied by animal, human and inanimate statues.

• In the fourth step,u can keep some statues of saints like ramana,Meera, Ramakrishna paramahamsa & other mahans.Also u can keep the statues of freedom fighters & world famous personalities. ( We din’t have those idols.So we have kept meera with other idols)

• In the fifth(last) step chettiar bommai has to be kept in the center.In front of the chettiar bommai,arrange a shop like thing by keeping dals,rice,chillies in small plates( Refer picture)
• On the both sides of chettiar bommai,u can keep statues of other human beings,animals,birds and inanimate statues.

After arranging all these dolls,draw a rangoli in front of the golu ( using rice flour & colour powders) and keep a big basin filled with water and decorated with flowers.On the sides of Golu,place two lamps( vilakku) and lit them.Keep the mulaipari in the side of golu or infront of it.The most important thing on all these nine days is once u keep the golu,u should not close the house for any reasons like travel etc.U should light the lamps in morning as well as evening & do pooja by offering some sweets & sundal.One of the most important ritual in Golu is exchanging thamboolam.U should invite young girls,ladies to see the golu and honour them by giving thamboolam and prasadam.People usually say that we should not sleep in the afternoon as we have to do pooja in the evening.Suppose if you sleep,its better to take bath before doing the pooja.On each day of Navratri,a sundal variety has to be done for prasadam.The scientific reason behind offering sundal is that during the months of September-october,people get easily tired and fell ill due to weather.So it is prescribed to have protein rich foods to rejuvenate ourselves.Another theory is that sundal is offered to appease Nava grahas ie nine planets.What matters ultimately is that of all the dishes should be made from the nava-dhanyas during Navarathri.

HOW TO REMOVE GOLU/KOLU

After these 9 days,on tenth day ie On vijayadasami,u should make all the dolls to sleep after evening neivedyam and move the kalasam a bit towards north to mark the end of that year’s golu( refer picture).The next morning,u can dismantle them and keep in a box covered with newspapers & thermocoal( to avoid damages) safely for next years usage. Suppose if the 11th day is Friday or tuesday,make the dolls sleep after 10th day morning neivedyam and make them sleep till afternoon.U can pack them before evening. No need to make the dolls sleep over night. If you have used water in the kalasam,sprinkle some water on your family members and pour the  remaining water to thulasi plant or some trees.If u had put rice & dal in the kalasam,use it for cooking. Use the coconut in the kalasam for cooking or make some sweets with it. Take the coins and keep in the safe.

LINKS FOR SUNDAL RECIPES & OTHER PRASADAMS

Always start with a sweet  & sundal on first day.You can make Sweet pongal /Sakkarai pongal Or Kesari along with any sundal variety.Some people make sweet sundal & spicy sundal versions.So its our choice.But a sweet dish is a must on first day.Then u can make any varieties based on your wish for the remaining days.
Please refer my Navratri full collection for more recipes.

Easy sweet sundal using lobia/Karamani

Green gram sweet sundal & spicy sundal

Rangoli sundal/Multi grain sundal

White Chana sundal/Kondakadalai sundal

Sweet corn sundal - Sweet n spicy versions

Instant Karamani sundal

Rajma sundal

Peanut sundal

Moong dal sundal

Rava kesari

Medhu vada with video

Coconut ladoo

Moong dal ladoo

Rava ladoo

Paneer Ladoo

Aval/Poha ladoo

Millets ladoo

Sweet pongal

Lemon rice

Tamarind rice

Coconut rice

Curd rice

Lemon poha

12 Payasam/Kheer recipes

Sabudana Vada

Anjaneyar Kovil pepper vada

I hope this post would help the first timers .Wish u all a very happy Navarathri

From tomorrow i will share some yummy sundal & sweet recipes along with some no onion no garlic vrat ka khana( fasting recipes).Stay tuned !

WISH U ALL A VERY HAPPY NAVRATARI !

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