Pagan Festival Shout Out: Kali Puja

Hindu festival honoring Great Goddess Maha Devi as Kali - decay, death, and transformation. Hindus believe all Gods and Goddesses are aspects of the limitless, attributeless, immanent, and transcendent Brahman-Ishvara-Maya.

It coincides with the Lakshmi Puja day of Diwali. While the Bengalis, Chittagonians, Sylhetis, Rangpuris, Odias, Assamese and Maithils worship the goddess Kali on this day, the rest of India worships goddess Lakshmi on Diwali.

Kali Puja (like Durga Puja) worshippers honour the goddess Kali in their homes in the form of clay sculptures and in pandals (temporary shrines or open pavilions). She is worshipped at night. She is prescribed offerings of red hibiscus flowers, sweets, rice and lentils, fish and meat. It is prescribed that a worshipper should meditate throughout the night until dawn