Navratri decoration has one rule that separates it from every other festival: the middle of the room belongs to the dancers. Style the pooja corner, the entrance and the edges of the room, keep the floor clear for garba, and you've done most of the work. Sharad Navratri falls in September or October each year, following the lunar calendar, and in Melbourne it's celebrated everywhere from living rooms to community halls. Here's how we approach it.
Everything else in the room is decoration; the Mataji chowki is the reason for it. Give it a wall of its own, ideally one guests face as they walk in. A low platform or table dressed in red or maroon fabric with a gold border, a framed image or murti of Durga Mata, the kalash, a diya, fresh flowers and a marigold toran above is the traditional core — and it only needs to be done once, before Ghatasthapana on the first day.
Leave at least a metre of clear floor in front of it. On every one of the nine nights the family gathers there for aarti, and a chowki squeezed between the couch and the TV makes that awkward and photographs badly.
Garba and dandiya raas are danced in circles, and circles need space. As a rough guide, a ring of twenty dancers needs a clear area about five to six metres across — more if two rings run at once. Before you add a single decoration, move the furniture to the walls and see what floor you actually have.
Many families follow a colour for each day of Navratri, and the order changes from year to year with the calendar, so check the list for the current year rather than reusing last year's. Redoing the whole room every night isn't realistic. Instead, build a neutral festive base — gold, cream, marigold orange and greenery — and change one accent each day: the fabric on the chowki, a table runner, the colour of the fresh flowers or a set of draped dupattas behind the murti. It reads as a deliberate daily change for the cost of a few metres of fabric.
Navratri is an evening festival, so lighting does more than any other decoration. A canopy of warm fairy lights over the dancing area, lanterns at the entrance and a glow behind the chowki transform an ordinary lounge room. If you're in a hired hall, check the conditions before you buy diyas: many Melbourne community halls don't allow naked flames, and LED diyas and tealights give the same effect without breaking the hire agreement.
A marigold and mango-leaf toran over the front door, a rangoli at the threshold and a pair of lanterns tell guests they've arrived before they're inside. For rangoli indoors, a printed rangoli mat or loose flower petals avoid coloured powder being danced through the house; outdoors, chalk and powder rangoli are fine and wash off.
Hall garbas are a different job. The hall's booking window sets the pace — set-up, nine rounds of garba, aarti, dinner and pack-down all have to fit — so the décor needs to go in fast and come out fast. We focus on four things: a stage or platform for the Mataji murti with a backdrop behind it, an entrance moment, perimeter seating and overhead lighting. Anything fixed to walls usually isn't allowed, so it's freestanding frames and weighted stands.
We style Navratri and Diwali functions across Melbourne, including community halls in Tarneit, Dandenong and Craigieburn, where hall rules are part of the design brief from the start.
Backdrops, frames, marigold garlands, lanterns and lighting are all available through our DIY hire catalogue if you want to set up yourself. If you'd rather hand it over, see our Diwali and festive décor service, or send us your dates and venue. The same pieces often carry straight through to Diwali a few weeks later — see our Diwali decoration ideas.
As a rough guide, a ring of about twenty dancers needs a clear area five to six metres across. Move furniture to the walls first, keep the centre free of lanterns, rugs and cables, and style the perimeter instead.
Often not. Many Melbourne community halls don't allow naked flames, so check the hall's conditions of hire. LED diyas and tealights give the same glow and are allowed almost everywhere.
The pooja corner is set up before Ghatasthapana on the first day and stays for all nine nights. The rest of the décor can go up the same day, with one accent colour changed each day if you follow the daily colours.
Yes. Fairy lights, lanterns, artificial marigold garlands, brass pieces and backdrops carry straight over to Diwali. Swap the Mataji chowki for a Lakshmi pooja set-up and add diyas and rangoli.
