Ganesha Festival Celebrations

One of the things I miss about India being in the US is the multitude of festivals we celebrate back home. The ambiance of the entire country is transformed during these occasions. Here the Indian or rather I should say Hindu community is so small that it is barely visible. Hence except major festivals such as Diwali nothing else is celebrated.

Image via Wikipedia

Tomorrow is Ganesha Chathurthi when the lord of wisdom, knowledge and the remover of obstacles is worshiped. We visited the Ganesha Temple in Plano this evening and hope to participate in the ceremonial worship tomorrow.
Being a default volunteer of Sankara Eye Foundation, I am trying to participate in organizing a Fund-raiser Dandia event in September. In order to promote the event we visited one of the leading Indian grocery stores in the area Taj Mahal Imports and there I was elated to see a group of young students dressed in neo-traditional Indian clothes, wearing a saffron band on their foreheads chanting "Ganesha Bappa, Moraya". We chatted up with them and came to know that about 300 students are getting together in an apartment to celebrate the Ganesha festival tomorrow.
After a long time I saw something that resembles Indian festival ambiance. I am gladdened today.

Happy Ganesha Chathurthi to all

Tomorrow or rather in a few minutes as the clock strikes 12.00 am the big day starts for adherents of Hinduism like me. It is the festival of Ganesha Chathurthi/ Ganesha Festival, the day when Lord Ganesha, son of Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, comes down to earth and blesses his devotees. It is also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi.



Ganesha, the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, is widely worshipped as the supreme god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune. Students worship Ganesha seeking knowledge, learning and wisdom. Adults worship Lord Ganesha for removal of obstacles in their life and to get good fortune.

Lord Ganesha is also known as Vighneshwara meaning the "removar of obstacles". Devout Hindus always perform a Ganesha pooja before starting any enterprise, work, contract etc, requesting the Lord to remove obstacles in the way and to help achieve their goal smoothly.

The festival begins by installtion and consecration of an idol of Lord Ganesha which is ceremonially worshipped by offerings of Modak (sweet made of jaggery and coconut), fruits and flowers.

While the festival is celebrated all over India, it is most popular in Maharashtra,Goa (Biggest festival for Konkani people all over the world), Gujarat, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Outside India, it is celebrated by Newars in Nepal.

A note of warning though, if anyone catches a glimpse of the Moon on this day, he/ she will face bad luck.