Neta Pilla & Navratri celebration in Shrikshetra,Puri:- Neta pilla:- The girls of Sevayat families of Puri town in the age between 4 to 12 who are school students on regular days as usual, with the arrival of Panchami tithi in the month of Ashwina, these little girls transform into devotees of Lord Markandeswar Shivjee maharaja. As part of the age-old Neta rituals of the temple, young girls adorn special costumes during the last five days of Dussehra and offer prayers. As per tradition, girls belonging to the sevayat families get ready early in the morning and get into their traditional attire. Girls from the age of four carry different varieties of fruits including coconuts 🥥 🌽 cornbread, banana 🍌 , apples 🍎 oranges 🍊 grapes 🍇 pears 🍐 Guava and watermelon 🍉 etc & milk 🥛 or juice 🥤 and walk to the Markendeya pond of Markandeswar sahi, near the Jagannath temple. They sing hymns and offer these food items to the Gods. They fast for five days and eat only fruits. They wear special sarees and lot of jewellery for this ritual. Traditionally the ritual was observed for two major reasons. One, the girls worshipped Lord Shiva for good husbands within the sevayat community and, second, they wish to become strong in their devotion for Shri Jaganath Temple as a whole and Lord Shri Jagannath in particular. This is not a mandatory religious practice. While earlier it was followed by thousands, only a few families allow their girls to observe the ritual nowadays. Because by observing such rituals their school education is being hampered. The girls dress up as a traditional bohu during the festival known as Neta pila. They wear jewellery and a saree that has been handed over to them by their previous generations in the family. ( no new sarees or no new jewellery) After worshipping Lord Shiva, they visit the families of their relatives. For some though, the rituals take their toll. The festival continues till Nabami, the day on which the girls visit the Markandeya pond for worship Prabhu Shri Markandeswar Mahadev. Navratri in Puri:- In Puri many people observe Navratri fasting. This year Navratri fasting will start from 15.10.23 . Navratri is one of the significant festivals for the people of Shri Kshetra Puri, that celebrates the victory of good over evil. The festival of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Durga and her nine avatars. There are four Navratris in a year but only two are widely celebrated - Chaitra Navratri and Sharad Navratri . During Navratris, many devotees of Puri keep fasting for nine days to please and seek blessings of Goddess Durga. There can be variation in the number of fasting days. While many observe the fasts for all nine days, there are some devotees who keep fast in jodas (couple) - the first two or the last two days of the Navratri. Navratri fasts has many variotions too in Puri. Some people take only Mahaprasad of lord Shri Jaganath and some people take Devi Prasad of different Devi temples of Puri during these nine days once a day, while some eat fruits and some people eat Puri famous Dalma along with Puri , Kachodi, Singhada or Khichdi or chudaghasha.