New Delhi: Navratri 2025 starts from September this year. It is a festival of devotion to Maa Durga and her nine divine forms. While the celebration of devotion, heritage, and culture has remained eternal, the way it is celebrated has transformed drastically over the generations. While baby boomers kept the celebrations to temple visits, millennials successfully added glam and social buzz to the festival, and now today Gen Z has turned the Navratri celebration into an Instagrammable spectacle.
The auspicious nine nights of Navratri still remain about garba, honouring goddess Durga, but how each generation has embraced the festival weaves an interesting story. As we step into Navratri 2025, let us take a look at how boomers, millennials, and Gen Z celebrate the same story but in completely different ways.
For Boomers Navratri celebration was pure bhakti, and not bling
For the boomer generation, Navratri was rooted in spiritual devotion and simplicity. Their nine days revolved around temple visits, community aartis, and strict fasting with sattvik food like kuttu ki poori, sabudana khichdi, and aloo curry. Fashion was understated—women mostly draped handloom or cotton sarees while men wore crisp kurta-pajamas. The evenings were spent with bhajans, storytelling, and small-scale garba gatherings in local neighbourhoods. For boomers, Navratri wasn’t about grandeur but about devotion, purity, and a deep spiritual connection with Maa Durga.
Millennials introduced social buzz in Navratri celebration
Millennials reshaped Navratri into a festival of style, socialising, and celebrations. Suddenly, Navratri nights were no longer just about puja—they became about pandal hopping, clicking selfies, and showing up in glamorous outfits. Designer lehengas, fusion sarees, and coordinated garba looks took centre stage. They also brought Navratri online with blogs, YouTube cooking tutorials for vrat recipes, and Facebook check-ins from the most popular pandals. For millennials, Navratri was about celebrating traditions while adding a fashionable, social twist, making it both spiritual and glamorous.
Navratri is now an ‘Instagrammable’ event for Gen Z
For Gen Z, Navratri is no longer just a festival—it’s a trending hashtag and global celebration. Instagram reels, TikTok garba dance challenges, and Spotify playlists with devotional remixes have redefined how this generation experiences the festival. Outfits are experimental—think lehengas with sneakers, sequinned cholis with denim jackets, and bold colours that pop on Instagram feeds. Their vrat meals are eco-conscious, often vegan and organic, paired with a push for eco-friendly pandals. With live-streamed aartis and digital mandir darshans, Gen Z has made Navratri accessible, sustainable, and completely Instagrammable.
From the quiet devotion of boomers to the glamorous Navratri nights of millennials and the digital-first celebrations of Gen Z, the essence of the festival may have shifted, but Maa Durga remains the heart of it all. Durga Puja 2025 might look different for every generation, but the blessings, energy, and joy remain timeless—reminding us that Navratri is more than just tradition, it’s an evolving cultural story.