Navratri begins with installation of the sacred pot; Goddess invoked

Ghatasthapana, also called Kalash Sthapana, is the ritual that opens Sharad Navratri on Ashwin Shukla Pratipada. A sacred pot (ghata or kalash) filled with water is installed and consecrated as the seat of the Goddess, who is invoked to dwell in the home for the nine nights. The scriptures describe the kalash as the whole cosmos in miniature — Vishnu at its mouth, Rudra at its neck, Brahma at its base and the Mother goddesses in its middle — so to establish it is to welcome all the divine powers into the house. Beside it barley is sown in a bed of earth; the green shoots (jawara) that rise over nine days are read as a sign of the prosperity of the coming year and are offered to the Goddess on Dashami. An akhand jyoti, a lamp kept burning without break through Navratri, is often lit at the same time. The Devi Purana insists on the right muhurat: Ghatasthapana is done in the first third of the day while Pratipada prevails, or failing that in Abhijit muhurat, avoiding Chitra nakshatra, Vaidhriti yoga and the night. On this first day Goddess Shailputri, daughter of the Himalaya, is worshipped.

Many begin the nine-day Navratri fast today; others fast only on the first and last days.