Bedazzle Visitors to Your Home on Janmashtmi (2020): Try These Super Creative Decoration Ideas to Enhance the Beauty of Your Home

Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna falls in July or August every year. It is celebrated with great devotion in India. The festival its typically celebrated on the Ashtami of Krishna Paksh, i.e., the 8th day of the dark fortnight during the month of Bhadon according to the Hindu calendar.

Hindus worship Lord Krishna and consider him as the most powerful incarnations of Lord Vishnu in the human form. He was born around 5200 years ago in Mathura. Lord Krishna took birth in a human form only to save the earth from the evils of the demons. The holy epic Mahabharata mentions the teachings of Lord Krishna. His theory of bhakti is also narrated in the Bhagwat Geeta.

Lord Krishna was born in a prison under the custody of his evil uncle Kansa. Kansa was given a curse of death by the 8th child of Vasudev and so he killed all his children. To protect his 8th child from Kansa, as soon as he was born, Vasudev took him to his friend Nand at midnight. Krishna grew up in Gokul as the son of Nand and Yashoda. He later killed his uncle Kansa.

As Lord Krishna was born at midnight, the actual celebration of Janmashtami begins in the dark at night. Lord Krishna was born in a dark, stormy and windy night. He took a human incarnation to kill his evil uncle and to bring an end to his violence. Devout Hindus and worshippers of Lord Krishna celebrate this day all over India with dances, devotional songs, pujas, offerings, aarti and by rocking the cradle of baby Krishna.

People show great enthusiasm in Janmashtami decorations and put in a lot of effort to decorate the cradle of Lord Krishna in beautiful and stunning designs. Not only the cradle, one gets to see vivid lightings, beautiful clothes of the deity, accessories and also stunning backdrops. They set up and try to replicate the entire birth scene of the Lord and each one’s decorations and creations are unique. In many parts of India, competitions are held on Janmashtami decorations.

Janmashtami is celebrated with great pomp and show in Mathura and Vrindava, the places where Lord Krishna had spent his earlier life. The temples in these areas are wonderfully decorated and brightly illuminated. The entire city goes from temple to temple to view the decorations and the artwork. Prayers are offered all night long and saints and worshippers also chant religious mantras in the temples. Prasad is distributed in many temples.

If you too would like to celebrate Janmashtami especially this year or if you are looking for some ideas to decorate your home during Janmashtami, then we have compiled some famous Janmashtami decoration themes done by people across the country. You can choose from any of the themes below or take inspiration from all and create your own unique Janmashtami décor theme.

If you want to replicate your décor just like it were a house in Vrindavan, then you need to create a village-like ambience. Lord Krishna was born 5200 years before and at that time, most cities were like villages of today. Let your creativity run wild when you create a Vrindavan fanfare. Use sand for the flooring. Make a lot of clay animals such as cows and goats. Use a lot of grass, plants and trees and make some huts with paper or cardboard. Right in the centre of your arrangement, place a cradle. You can get a cradle online or you could make one yourself with cardboard. Decorate it with colourful flowers and stones. Place the idol of Bal Krishna asleep in the cradle. Also, place figurines of mother Yashoda and father Nand standing by the cradle. You can also place many other human figurines to depict village people who have gathered to give their blessings. Place earthen pots filled with butter and also place your Prasad on the other side. Hang LED lights above your Janmashtami décor to light up your artificially created Vrindavan city.

While creating a peacock feather decoration, you will need a lot of peacock feathers and some figurines of peacock bird. You can arrange these feathers on the backdrop to create a stunning green effect and enhance the effect by placing Led lights just above. Get a big cradle of Lord Krishna and lovely idol so that you can dress it up with pretty clothes and jewellery. Do not forget to attach a small thread or rope to the cradle and worshippers who come to seek blessings will want to give the cradle a push with the rope as if they are putting Lord Krishna to sleep. Decorate with flower petals everywhere or make rangolis to create a colourful effect.

When you have chosen flowers as your theme for décor, you will need a lot of flowers in different colours. You can separate the petals of some flowers and keep some intact. First, you need to decorate the cradle. Make a string of flowers with a needle and thread. You can choose only one colour or a combination of flowers for the string. Next, entwine the string on the pillars of the cradle. Choose a different flower for the backdrop and put flower petals on the floor. Decorate Lord Krishna and his parents with floral accessories. Floral decoration requires a lot of minute detailing and has to be done fresh on the day itself else the flowers will wither.

To make a decoration with plants and leaves, you can use different types of leaves and potted plants to make a green-looking décor. You can create a wall hanging of different leaves arranged interestingly as the backdrop. Also, place potted plants next to the cradle. You can also place the idol of Goddess Radha next to Lord Krishna on the cradle. You get different figurines of cows, village people, Lord Krishna’s friends and other deities, which you can place beside the cradle. Use earthen pots to depict his love for butter and you can also place your Prasad items in these pots and distribute to everyone who comes to see your décor and seek divine blessings.

Temples dedicated to Lord Krishna take great effort every year to create stunning Janmashtami décor. They create lovely clothes for idols. The jewellery and the accessories of the idols are also made specially by ladies and gents of the temple trust or all those who are willing to participate in the decoration. Bells, peacock feathers, flowers and leaves are used. Many people also use conch shells and earthen pots for the décor. Almost everything that was prevalent during that era or all those things which were dear to Lord Krishna are created again.

A colourful decoration can be done by using maximum amount of colors possible for the wall decorations, temple decorations, idol clothes and the surroundings. You can use colourful ribbons or flowers to create a colourful and bright effect.

Your Janmashtami décor will look divine and impactful if you take care of little important things. While trying to replicate the birth scene of Lord Krishna, you have to arrange for all the little things, props, accessories which were prevalent at that time and also which were dear to the Lord.

Lord Krishna loved butter. We have all grown up listening to endearing tales of Baby Krishna stealing butter from pots. Cute stories about his mother Yashoda beating him for stealing butter or his neighbours complaining to his mother about his activities are everywhere in our ancient epics and religious books. So when you create a Janmashtami décor, it is a good idea to use earthen pots. You can use them to place your cooked Prasad or you can just place them with butter next to his cradle. Alternatively, you can also paint earthen pots and hang them on the walls as a backdrop.

A décor looks enchanting and impactful only when it is lit properly. LED lights are an easily available option which are also very cost-effective. These are also available in vivid patterns, colors and styles. You can pick up strings of differently colored LED lights and hang them above your décor to illuminate everything and also to create a stunning effect.

Colourful Rangolis are a personification of our Indian culture. Many houses in South India draw a Rangoli every morning outside the entrance of their houses after they have finished cleaning the house. They believe that Lords and Goddesses enter a house with a beautiful Rangoli at the doorstep. During Janmashtami, many Hindu homes create small footsteps of Baby Krishna from Rangoli powder from the entrance of their house to the Pooja rooms where they have decorated the birth cradle. It symbolizes that Lord Krishna quietly came to their house and took birth in a human avatar.

Any Pooja ceremony in India is incomplete without the preparation and distribution of Holy Prasad. Prasad is delicious Satvik food prepared without onion and garlic and is first offered to God and then to the people. Mostly, Prasad contains kheer, halwa, puri, channa, panchamrit and all forms of Indian desserts. During Janmashtami, people also have butter as Prasad as it was a favourite of Lord Krishna. You can prepare various Prasad varieties and arrange them in beautiful earthen crockery or silver crockery next to your alcove where you have done your Janmashtami celebrations. You can offer this Prasad to anyone to comes to visit your house to seek holy blessings.

Finally, to create an enchanting and overall mesmerizing effect, do not forget playing aarti in the background. Pick up some famous bhajans and songs sung for Lord Krishna and arrange a music system in the Pooja room or area where you have done the decoration to complete the overall effect.

According to Hindu culture, it is pleasant to have an oil lamp burning all the time in a temple. You can light an Akhand jyot and keep monitoring the wick and refilling the oil when it gets over. Also, light some incense sticks in an incense holder to spread a lovely aroma around.

A chowki is a place where the idol of Lord Krishna is placed. These chawkis are decorated with beautiful cloth pieces adorned with stone or lacework.

The clothes for Lord Krishna are often chosen in bright colours with lots of lacework, gold or silver patchwork or stone embellishments. Accessories are jewellery also play an important role. The mukut of Lord Krishna is chosen with great care and love. It is adorned with gems, stones, diamonds or pearls. The other jewellery items include earrings, necklace and bangles. Also, do not forget the deity’s favourite flute. You can decorate the flute with bright colours and add a pearl drop at the end to enhance it further.