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Dussehra feast
The victory day that ends Navratri, marked with saffron jalebi, fafda and a ritual of the new rice.
Spices for Dussehra feast
Dussehra marks the triumph of good over evil, and in western India the morning begins with fafda, a crisp gram flour snack seasoned with ajwain and turmeric, eaten with jalebi, the coiled, saffron-tinted sweet soaked in syrup. The pairing of a savoury, peppery fried bite with a sugary one is the point, and queues form at sweet shops at dawn. In the south, Vijayadashami is when children begin learning, and the sweets at the school shrine are scented with cardamom. In Mysuru and Kullu the day closes with a procession, and the evening meal is shared with relatives.
The spices
Also part of it, and being written: Carom seed (Seasons fafda, the savoury snack eaten with jalebi.).
Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Dussehra" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Turmeric: J.M.Garg, CC BY 3.0, source
- Saffron: Hubertl, CC BY-SA 4.0, source