Rekindle that personal connection with tradition
Lakshmi Puja on Sharad Purnima or the autumn full moon. At the turn of the 20th century, there would have hardly been a Bengali house without an evening puja for the goddess of good fortune and abundance being conducted by the matriarch of the family. It could be described as Bengal's Thanksgiving Day, asking for Ma Lakshmi to shower divine benevolence on all.
Whether She is represented as a figurine or painted on a clay plate (shora), Ma Lakshmi is adorned with flowers, and alponas featuring conch shells and lotuses are drawn on the floors with rice flour paste, with the goddess's feet etched at every doorway to welcome her. Similar to the more widely known Santa story, "Kojagori" Lakshmi is supposed to come late at night to see who is still awake and bestow her blessings on them.
Durga Puja became a largely community celebration by the 19th century, barring those in the homes of rajas and zamindars, but Lakshmi Puja remained a family affair till the end of the 20th century. And, importantly, it was most often woman-led. Nearly every Bengali has memories of grandmothers, aunts and mothers prepping for the evening puja, making narkel naru (coconut-jaggery ladoos), arranging fruits and flowers, keeping fasts and reciting the panchali.
Sadly, today the homely Bengali Lakshmi Puja is becoming just that: a memory. People are increasingly turning to 'barowari' or community worship for Her too as that generation of mothers and grandmothers pass on. A neighbourhood puja is better than the tradition dying out altogether,
