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Durga Puja
White saris with a broad red border, red sindoor smeared on cheeks on the last day, and feet edged in red alta.
The colours of Durga Puja
Durga Puja is the great festival of Bengal. The goddess, with ten arms and a golden-yellow face, is set up in decorated pavilions across Kolkata, and people go from one to the next all night in new clothes. The classic dress for women is the lal paar sari: white or cream with a wide red border. Red and white are the colours of a married Bengali woman, repeated in her shell and coral bangles and in the alta, a red dye painted round the edges of the feet. On the last day, Dashami, married women offer sindoor, red vermilion powder, to the goddess and then smear it on each other's faces in the sindoor khela, before the images are taken to the river.
#C8102ELal paar redThe red border of the sari.#F8F4E6Garad whiteThe white or cream silk of the sari.#E03C1FSindoorVermilion offered to the goddess and played with on Dashami.#F2C230Durga yellowThe golden-yellow face of the goddess.#B5122BAlta crimsonRed dye painted on the feet.Values are fair approximations, not official shades.
Read about the colours
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Durga Puja" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from family to family and place to place. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.