Durga Puja festival brings Bengali culture, and connection, to Costa Mesa this weekend

A three-day festival full of music, food, dancing and celebration is coming to Costa Mesa this weekend, offering a glimpse into Bengali culture and connection for Orange County.

The three-day-long Durga Puja festival recognizes the Hindu holiday, celebrating the spirit of the Hindu goddess Durga, who symbolizes divine energy and protective power. Her most prominent story is of her battle defeating the buffalo demon Mahishasura, which is celebrated at the culmination of Durga Puja.

In India, Durga Puja lasts 10 days, full of worshiping the Hindu mother goddess, said Anindya Chatterjee, one of the event organizers, but Orange County’s event spans just three days, Sept. 26-28.

The festival, held at Estancia High School in Costa Mesa, will include meals, music, dancing and puja, a Hindu ritual of worship performed to honor and establish a connection with a deity or sacred presence.

Among performances from family and friends, the festival, hosted by local nonprofit Sanhoti, will also feature Bengali music producer Rathijit Bhattacharjee; Holud Panjabi, a Bengali drumming group from San Diego; and Grammy-winning singer Mahalakshmi Iyer, said Suvendu Laha, president and founder of Sanhoti.

The idea, said Chatterjee, a Laguna Niguel resident who immigrated to the U.S. from India in 2006, is to bring a bit of Bengali culture to Orange County. The hope, he said, is that the festival can forge a deeper connection between older and younger generation Bengali community members.

“We felt that, at some level, there is a disconnect for the younger generation because they don’t get the same exposure of the Indian culture,” Chatterjee said. “They might not be able to associate themselves when they go to India or when other relatives come and talk about the rich heritage that we have.”

Yet, Chatterjee said, the festival is open to anyone interested in getting to know more about India and the Bengali community.

“More than a religious event, it’s a celebration,” Chatterjee said.

“We are trying to showcase our cuisines, we are trying to showcase our culture through cultural programs and the different events that take place throughout the day,” he said. “We would love people from different communities and backgrounds to come over and see a slice of India.”

“We definitely would like everyone to participate in (the festival),” Laha, Sanhoti’s founder, added, “because we feel that it is important and that we spread the message of compassion and the message of harmony in these times. And also, we would like people to come to a place where they all can mix and appreciate each other.”

Sanhoti, a group that promotes Bengali culture, was established in June and has more than 200 members, said Chatterjee. And the Durga Puja festival is already its third public event.

Sanhoti aims to support local charity organizations through events such as this one, Laha said. In July, the group hosted a charity event for Laura’s House, a domestic violence shelter and support center, where they donated essentials, including canned food, books and toilet paper.

Tickets for the Durga Puja festival can be purchased online at sanhoti.org.