Durga Puja in the Emirates

This week is Durga Puja, i.e. the worship of the Goddess Durga, East India’s biggest festival.

Since I’m SUPER busy at present, I’m gonna do my usual stunt, and do a quick photo post! Here’s how Durga Puja is celebrated, in the UAE! (Didn’t know they have that, huh?) Enjoy.


Maa Durga in Ajman, the UAE, last year, Oct 2024

Durga Puja is a 10-day festival, with the last day being the grandest. The nine days preceding this big day is called Navratri, literally meaning 9 nights. It’s celebrated as Dassehra in other parts of India, and Dashain in Nepal. Its festival dates are based on the Hindu lunar calendar, but it usually coincides with the ninth month of the Chinese lunar calendar (i.e. from the last day of the eighth month, to the ninth day of the ninth month, which also happens to be a Chinese festival, i.e. the Double-9 Festival). The Taoist communities in South East Asia celebrate this as the Nine Emperor Gods Festival, which is a 10-day affair, much like Durga Puja. But this year, due to the Chinese year being a leap year, which adds an entire friggin month to the calendar (yup, lunisolar calendars have 13 months in a year on leap years), the Chinese & Taoist celebrations are a month later than Durga Puja. Didn’t know that, eh?

OK, enough of the boring stuff, here’re the photos.


Durga Puja celebrations in the Winners Sports Club premises, Ajman, UAE


Happy Durga Puja, Happy Dassehra, Happy Dashain! Let’s join in (this is the missus’s biggest festival)


What the heck! Might as well post this. Nope, this isn’t a temple. It’s near where we parked our car – a random villa in Ajman, near the sports ground, where the Durga Puja celebrations were held


Hey, they’re also celebrating in Sharjah! Let’s go have a look. The Goddess Durga at the Al Mubarak Centre, Sharjah, UAE, Oct 2024


And what’s Puja, without a temple visit? – Dubai Hindu Temple, Oct 2024


And a meal? Dinner at a Nepali restaurant (Ghantoot Restaurant), Bur Dubai – this was from 2023…




Let’s wrap it up with a few more temple photos! Gone are the days of the old Hindu temple in Bur Dubai. Here’s the new Dubai Hindu Temple in Jebel Ali, Dubai


Photos of the main prayer hall aren’t allowed now. It didn’t used to be. Here’s a photo of the interior from 2022. Nope, it hasn’t changed much


Family pic! Dubai Hindu Temple, Oct 2022. This was just before Justin went abroad for studies. His mommy visited to seek blessings

That’s it. Happy Durga Puja, Dassehra, Dashain, whatever you wanna call it! Have a blast!