This year Ganesh Chaturthi 2020 is falling on the 22nd of August, Saturday. According to the Hindu calendar, this festival is celebrated in the month of Bhadrapada, on the fourth day of the waxing moon. Therefore the festival always falls between the ending of August and beginning of September month.
Ganesh Chaturthi is a festival of 10 days which is celebrated as the mark of the birth of Lord Ganesha. Lord Ganesha is one of the most popular deities for worship. People in India always remember and pray to Lord Ganesha whenever they start something new for blessings. He is worshipped for his ability to remove misfortune and obstacles and for bringing good luck.
This festival is celebrated in most of the states of the country. The celebrations in Mumbai city are just next level. Many pandals compete with each other for decorating the pandal in a beautiful way for Lord Ganesha. Also, there are many popular Lord Ganesha temples that are famous for fulfilling the wishes of the people.
The festival is celebrated by performing aarti and by offering Lord Ganesha’s favorite sweet modak. Many people bring Ganesha idols at their homes for praying to him and for singing or playing bhajans to please the Lord Ganesha. And on the last day, by dancing and singing bhajans on the street, the idol is taken to the river or sea for immersing the idol. Ganesh Chaturthi has become one of the most loved and favorite festivals in the country.
Now many people have questions regarding why Ganesha idols are immersed in the water bodies? What is the reason behind the Visarjan( immersion ceremony)? Well, there is a reason behind that. Hindus worship statues or idols so that it gives a visible form to pray to. We all are well-known to the fact that the universe is in a constant state of change. Nothing remains the same and everything changes with time. So to teach that everything is temporary in life and sometimes we need to let go of the things we love. Hence, this is the reason behind the immersion ceremony of the idol.
We all love Lord Ganesha and pray to him for prosperity. During Ganesh Chaturthi, Lord Ganesha makes a visit to his devotee’s house for several days and leaves everybody with a teary eye and also with the hope to come again next year. In this year of 2020, maybe the government will not allow public functions due to the widespread coronavirus. Also, the sizes of idols may get reduced so that the visarjan ceremony could be conducted in artificial pools.
So this was about the Ganesh Chaturthi festival which is celebrated every year in the country.
