Vijayadashami (Ashwin Shuddha Dashami), also called Dussehra, is an important day in Indian culture. Navratri of the Goddess is celebrated after the Ghats of the Goddess are established and Vijayadashami is celebrated on the 10th day.
Goddess Saraswati, considered the goddess of education, is specially worshipped on this day. People give Apata leaves to each other as gold, and, in the evening, people cross their village boundarirs to the north-east to worship apata trees. They also establish the Goddess Aparajita on the Ashtadal line and pray to her to 'grant me victory'. The warriors then worship the weapon by drawing a symbolic image of Saraswati.
In our Snehalaya family, we celebrate this festival every year. Our children worship books and notebooks, and all our vehicles and buildings, decorated with flower garlands, made with our children's help, are worshipped. This year, our boys and girls decided not to distribute apata leaves in their efforts to save the environment. Instead, our staff and children created Ravan.
In our Snehasparsh boys section, the Ravana Dahan program was planned and managed by our children, starting in the morning with the preparation of Ravana. A place to cremate Ravana was found and our children delighted as they threw firecrackers into the fire while wishing happy Dussehra to our staff by falling to their feet as a mark of respect.