Ganesh is an elephant-headed God of wisdom, son of Shiva and Parvati. On a special day in August or September, Ganesh's birthday is celebrated. It is a 7 to 10 day celebartion, which ends by immersing the God into water (the ocean). Ganesh's idols are made out of plaster and can be as small as a foot to about 10ft high! It is decorated with beautiful bright colors. They are either kept on a special table at home or in a special tent on the road. Here is a video clip of the drumming and decorations of a house near us as they welcomed Ganesh's idol into their home.Here's a picture of another one on the road also near our house. People are allowed to come and do prayers all day long.
One of our school members who celebrates Ganesh's birthday, invited us to see the immersion. As we arrived at the house we were told to ask for a wish when talking to Ganesha. At first Linnea was not sure about it, but once we were at the beach she asked for her wish.
At the beach, there were many other families doing their immersions. Immersions occur on different days according to the families numbers. This immersion was on the 5th day. The 7th and the 10th day are the most crowded and we were adviced to stay home to avoid the heavy heavy traffic. At the beach, families continue to bless the family by circulating fire, dancing, drumming, chanting and fireworks. The family was nice enough to let us be part of all of the blessings, dancings etc.
This video clip may take a while to load, but it is a great summary of what this festival can look like. Half way through this video, you will hear someone chanting in Hindi, come back next year. Linnea knows this chant and enjoyed saying it whenever she saw a Ganesha
No comments:
Post a Comment