Lakshmi Puja

Friday the 24th of August 2007 was an auspicious day for women as Varamahalakshmi puja was celebrated with pomp and gaiety. Lakshmi is the goddess of prosperity, wealth, purity, generosity, and the embodiment of beauty, grace and charm. On the full moon night following Dusshera or Durga Puja, Hindus worship Lakshmi ceremonially at home, pray for her blessings, and invite neighbors to attend the puja. It is believed that on this full moon night the goddess herself visits the homes and replenishes the inhabitants with wealth.
Hindu or not, this seemed like a good holiday to respect!!
We had plans Friday evening to entertain a couple visitors from Target, but got invited to a puja at our neighbors the Revannasiddaiah's also...and were told to bring friends. Luckily Kim and Debbie were up for adventure and we arrived at puja politely late by 10 minutes (and were the first ones there by 45 minutes - you'd think I was new here!). In addition to having an incredibly beautiful statue of the deity, they had a full spread of dinner and a zest to make sure you didn't leave hungry! We made our offering of some sweets, flowers and incense (having been duly advised by our cook to bring something) and proceeded to have a meal that would put Thanksgiving to shame - course after course of really delicious food (a little spicy). More neighbors started to arrive and we ended up staying until Caden was half-asleep and on the edge of not being suited for puja (assuming it's the same threshold as how long you would keep a 3-year-old at church). We left with gift baskets complete with coconuts, blouse material, cosmetics, bangles, tumeric and more. Caden also got a coconut, which he named Max (no joke).
It's great to be included in these festivals, and these neighbors are a model of graciousness and hospitality that really make us feel welcome and lucky to be here. We got a return invite for the Ganesha festival later this month and I'm already looking forward to it. The symbolism and story behind Ganesh is very cool - look forward to an informative posting!
Oh, and we arrived back at our place with a FULL meal in the fridge (our cook tends to overshoot a bit, ok a lot, on news of guests) and full bellies. So we settled for drinks and good conversation about how fun life can be when you are a bit flexible and outside your comfort zone. It's quite an experience! Oh, and I'm also grateful that Kim and Debbie left a veritable smorgasboard of consumables, toiletries and medication when they departed...seems that puja for prosperity paid off in fruit snacks and tylenol PM!!!