Ganesh Chaturthi 2019 |Festival Information

Ganesh Chaturthi also is known as Vinayaka Chaturthi (Vināyaka Chaturthī) or Vinayaka Chavithi(Vināyaka Chavithī) is a Hindu festival celebrating the birth of Ganesha. It falls in the months of August or September of the Gregorian calendar.

The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha clay idols privately in homes, or publicly on elaborate pandals(temporary stages). Observations include chanting of Vedic hymns and Hindu texts such as prayers and vrata (fasting). 

Offerings and prasadam from the daily prayers, that is distributed from the pandal to the community, include sweets such as modaka as it is believed to be a favorite of Lord Ganesh. The festival ends on the tenth day after start, but we end it by one and a half-day where the idol is carried in a public procession with music and group chanting, then immersed in a nearby body of water such as a river or sea. 

In Mumbai alone, around 150,000 statues are immersed annually. thereafter the clay idol dissolves and Ganesha is believed to return Mount Kailash to Parvati and Shiva. The festival celebrates Lord Ganesha as the God of New Beginnings and the Remover of Obstacles as well as the god of wisdom and intelligence and is observed throughout India, 

Ganesh Chaturthi 2019 |Festival Information

Ganesh Chaturthi Festival Dates

The festival takes place late August or early September, depending on the cycle of the moon. It falls on the fourth day after the new moon in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada. In 2019, Ganesh Chaturthi takes place on Monday, September 2. The festival extends over 11 days with the biggest spectacle happening on the last day called Anant Chaturdasi day, which falls on September 12, 2019.

Where is it Celebrated?

The festival is widely celebrated in the state of Maharashtra, where it originated as a public festival in the city of Pune more than 125 years ago.  the state as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, and is usually celebrated privately at home in states such as Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. Ganesh Chaturthi is also observed in Nepal and by the Hindu diaspora elsewhere such as in Australia, Canada, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, other parts of the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, United States, and in Europe (in Tenerife).

Download HD Ganpati Images | Ganesh Chaturthi Images HD

How is it Celebrated?

The festival begins with the installation of huge elaborately crafted statutes of Ganesha in homes and podiums, which have been specially constructed and beautifully decorated. Artisans put months of effort into making the statues. It's forbidden to look at the moon on this first night as legend had it the moon laughed at Lord Ganesha when he fell from his vehicle, the rat. On Ananta Chaturdasi (the last day), the statues are paraded through the streets, accompanied by much singing and dancing, and then immersed in the ocean or other bodies of water.

Ganesh Chaturthi 2019 |Festival Information

Why are the Ganesh Statues Immersed in Water at the End of the Festival?

Hindus worship idols, or statues, of their gods because it gives them a visible form to pray to. They also recognize that the universe is in a constant state of change. Form eventually gives away to formlessness. However, the energy still remains. The immersion of the statues in the ocean, or other bodies of water, and subsequent destruction of them serves as a reminder of this belief.