Ganesh Chaturthi Celebration At Home

Ganesh Chaturthi is a nationwide celebrated festival. It is celebrated all around the world as birthday of Lord Ganesh. He graces all holy occasions and is believed to be the preserver of all good things and the destroyer of obstruction and bad omen.It is observed during the Hindu month of Bhadra (mid-August to mid-September). Usually the preparations of Ganesh Chaturthi begin about a month before the festival. A lot of preparation goes into Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at home as well.

Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at home begins with installing clay idols of Ganesha bought from the market. A large number of dishes are cooked as offering or Neivedyam for the lord. Modak is a popular food of this festival and is the main offering done to the lord. It is considered to be the lord’s favourite sweet. Other delicacies of this festival include appam, pedha, sundal, barfi, laddoo and karanji.The idol is bathed in scented water (Abhishekam) and then adorned with flowers. The worship begins with chanting mantras to invoke life into the clay idol. Arti of the idol is done twice while singing devotional songs. It is a popular belief that during this time, Lord Ganesha visits the home of his devotees and brings good luck and fortune for them. The ten day festival comes to an end with the immersion of the idol in water. It is believed that Lord Ganesh bids good bye to his devotees after immersion and takes away all their misfortunes with him. Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at home varies from 1 to 11 days.

• In many homes of Mumbai, the worship is carried out with a lot of zest and ardour. Modak, Puran Poli, Pathali, Karanji, laddoos are the common festival food.
• The celebrations are somewhat different in Goa. In the various households of Goa, women observe fasts during this festival and worship Parvati and Shiva. The popular festival food prepared by them is Nevreo and Paatolleo. Ganesh Chaturthi is popularly called Parab or Chavath in Konkani. Pakhavajs, ghumots and cymbals are the instruments played during this festival. Navyachi Pancham is a harvest festival, which is celebrated the following day. Worship commences after freshly harvested paddy is brought home from the fields.
• In Andhra Pradesh, the idols of Ganesh are usually made of plaster of paris, clay (Matti Vinayakudu) and turmeric (Siddhi Vinayakudu). Vundrallu (steamed, coarsely ground rice-flour balls), chalividi (a cooked rice flour and jaggery mixture), panakam (drink), and vadapappu (soaked moong lentils) are offered to Ganesha and are the popular festival food.
• In Karnataka, Ganesh Chaturthi is known as Vinayaka Chaturthi or Pillayar Chaturthi. According to the Tamil calendar, the festival commences on the fourth day after the new moon in the month of Āvaṇi. As plaster of paris idols are banned here, Andhra Pradesh produces Idols out of coconuts, clay and other organic products are also found here. In this state, Gouri festival takes place before Ganesh Chaturthi. Modak is the popular festival food here and is known as kozhukattai. Sundals are especially prepared in South India.

Thus, the Ganesh Chaturthi celebration at home varies from state to state depending on the various cultural practices.The essence of the festival lies in the destruction of obstacles in the path of success and the acceptance of prosperity and good fortune.It is certainly the most widely celebrated festival in India.