Holidays & Observances: Ganesh Chathurthi

For all the posts in this Holidays & Observances series, go here.

Prologue: I have been meaning to write a series about Holidays and Observances that we (my family and friends) follow in both India (my birth country) and USA (my adopted country). This series is dedicated to those. On a side note, perhaps I might witness some of the celebrations from other countries as well that may get their way into this series. 🙂

We celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi this year on Sept 18th (2023). This is a 10-day long festival in honor of the birthday of Lord Ganesha. He is known as the God of wealth, knowledge, wisdom, science and prosperity. He is worshipped to remove any hurdles in important work of your life.

The streets are decorated with several pandals (= Ganesh shelter) and so are the homes of everyone who follow this festival. The statue is decorated with flowers, fruits and vegetables. Typically 16 varieties of dishes, both savory and sweet, are offered to the God. But primarily they offer Undrallu (= rounded balls of sweet or savory).

People visit all the pandals in their neighborhood ending the festival day in meeting friends and family, and enjoying scrumptious prasadam (= offering) from every Pandal they visit.  Here is out Lord Ganesha sending you all the health and prosperity this year.