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NavratriEvents in Chicago 2026
Chicago's Navratri starts on Devon Avenue, where the sari shops, sweet counters and dandiya stick displays take over the pavement through September, and where most people do their chaniya choli and kediyu shopping before the season. In the city itself expect garba and dandiya nights at cultural centres, banquet halls and club spaces on the north side, with the enormous pass-based nights and the orchestras from India out in the Schaumburg, Naperville and Aurora halls. Weekend dates sell out online and season passes beat nightly entry if you plan on several. Dress codes are real and the suburban floors are skilled, so watch a round first. The Blue and Brown lines help within the city, but the big suburban halls need a car and their lots fill before 9pm. Chicago October nights are properly cold once you leave. Browse the Chicago listings below for both city and suburban nights.
Listings updated
Garba Events in Chicago
Warm up for garba
Get the beat in your feet before the first night in Chicago: Spotify’s Garba Nights, from dhol-heavy folk classics to the songs every circle dances to.
Before you dance
The story of Navratri
Nine nights, a goddess, two demons and one very big bonfire.
01The boon
A demon no god could kill
Mahishasura, the buffalo demon, won a boon: no man and no god could kill him. Fearless, he stormed the heavens and drove the gods from their thrones.
02The goddess
Durga rises from their light
So the gods poured their powers into one blaze, and from it rose Durga. Each gave her a weapon — Shiva his trident, Vishnu his discus — and the mountains gave her a lion.
03Nine nights
Nine nights, then victory
For nine nights she fought him as he changed shape — buffalo, lion, elephant, man — and each night of Navratri honours one of her nine forms. On the tenth, Vijayadashami, she struck him down: good over evil.
04The Ramayana
Rama prays to the goddess
Ravana carried Sita away to Lanka. In one telling, Rama worshipped Durga for her blessing before the war — then crossed the sea to bring Sita home.
05Dussehra
The ten-headed king falls
Rama's arrow brought down Ravana on the same tenth day. That is why the festival's last day is Dussehra too: one victory, told twice.
06Today
Ravana goes up in fireworks
Across north India, towering paper Ravanas are packed with crackers and lit at dusk on Dussehra — and the crowd cheers as evil burns.
And that is why we dance
Garba circles the garbo — a clay lamp, the goddess’s light at the centre of life — and the circle never stops, like time. The dandiya sticks are said to be her swords, clashing in the battle all over again.
Upcoming Navratri garba events in Chicago
| Date | Event | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Schaumburg Garba Festival 2026 | 8 Nights of FREE Garba | NO RSVP NEEDED | Haridham Chicago: Hindu-Swaminarayan Temple & Cultural Center (YDS Chicago), Schaumburg | |
| BIC Durga Pujo 2026 | 828 S Wolcott Ave, Chicago | |
| Nine Days of Navratri: A Celebration of the Divine Feminine | Evolution Yoga, Glenview | |
| Durga Puja/ Navratri 2026 | 2S511 IL Route 53, Glen Ellyn | |
| BSS-Chicago Durga Puja 2026! | 522 Garfield Ave, Aurora | |
| Sharad Navaratri Bazaar | 10915 Lemont Rd |