Saffron Indian Restaurant in Aurora is hosting an “authentic” Hindu dance festival on September 13 and 14.

The Garba event features two evenings of live music, singing and dancing, as well as Indian street food at the restaurant on Wellington Street.

“Garba is an Indian way of celebrating our goddesses. For women empowerment, we celebrate our goddesses for nine days, we call it Navaratri,” said Purvanshi Prabhakar, the restaurant’s manager. “We in the Indian community celebrate it with dance. So it’s a very religious and traditional way of dancing, singing sacred songs and just celebrating all the goddesses that we have.”

Although Navaratri, the annual nine-day Hindu festival, is an important religious celebration, Prabhakar said all residents are welcome.

“We don’t have many Indians here, so we decided to celebrate that, so people can learn more about the community, so they can come in, dance with us and mingle with us and learn more about us, and we can learn more about them,” she said, adding that Aurora has offered a welcoming atmosphere since Saffron opened about five months ago.

“Indian festivals generally mean being part of a larger community. That’s why we never celebrate our festivals alone, but always with people, our neighbors, our environment, our community. And that’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve here in Aurora.”

On September 13th and 14th, the celebrations begin at 7pm and end around midnight.

“At our house, the festival usually goes on all night… but of course we don’t do that here,” she said.

The event will take place in front of the Saffron Indian Restaurant at 297 Wellington St. E., Unit 6.

Tickets for the event are on sale for $25 for one day or $40 for both days. More information and where to purchase tickets can be found online.