Ganesh Chaturthi, commonly known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is one of the widely celebrated festivals among Hindu in India.
The festival is celebrated to honor the birthday of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-headed god and considered the remover of evils and patron deity of knowledge, good luck, prosperity, and new beginnings.
The festival is celebrated on a positive note to mark the occasion of Lord Ganesha's arrival to Earth from Mount Kailash along with his mother, Goddess Parvati.
In 2024, Ganesh Chaturthi will be celebrated with fasts and more devotion. It's going to be that kind of celebration wherein millions of devotees come together in mass to welcome their most endearing Lord Ganesha home and into community pandals.
So, let us examine the dates, timings, rituals, and other details that make Ganesh Chaturthi 2024.
When is Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: Key Dates and Timings
This festival is celebrated for ten days from the fourth day, Chaturthi of the Hindu lunisolar month of Bhadrapada, which corresponds to August-September in the Gregorian calendar.
In 2024, the celebrations will begin on Friday, 6th September 2024, at 03:01 p.m. and conclude on Tuesday, September 17th, at 05:37 p.m., with the Ganesh Visarjan scheduled for 17th September 2024.
The time for the very auspicious Madhyahna Ganesha Puja Muhurat will be from 11:03 a.m. to 01:34 p.m., lasting for 2 hours and 31 minutes.
Date | Date and Time |
Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: Start date | 7 September 2024(Saturday) |
Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: Puja tithi start: | 6 September 2024 (Friday) at 3:01 PM |
Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: Puja tithi end: | 7 September 2024 at 5:37 PM |
Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: Puja muhurat | 7 September 2024 at 11:03 AM to 01:34 PM |
Ganesh Chaturthi 2024: End date/visarjan: | 17 September 2024 (Tuesday) |
Ganesh Chaturthi is an extremely important festival among Hindus. It is a blend of religious zeal, rich culture, and social participation. Lord Ganesha is the epitome of wisdom, knowledge, and remover of hurdles.
The devotees believe that worshipping the lord in this festival brings prosperity and alleviates them from problems in life, including new beginnings.
There are several legends associated with the birth of Lord Ganesha, though the most famous one is related to how Goddess Parvati prepared Ganesha out of the turmeric paste she used for her bath and granted him life.
Later, after he got into an altercation with Lord Shiva, who unknowingly severed Ganesha's original head, he was given the head of an elephant. Since then, Ganesha has been worshipped as the god for new beginnings, success, and wisdom.
In Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, it is celebrated with great fervor. Over time it spread everywhere in India and other countries where people from the Indian diaspora live through the passage of time.
The festival involves several rituals such as the placing of the Ganesha idols, worship, offerings, and the final immersion (Visarjan) of the deity's idol in water. The main rituals that are performed during the celebration of Ganesh Chaturthi are stated below.
This is the first day when families and communities bring home or place clay idols of Lord Ganesha in elaborately decorated pandals, which are a type of temporary structure.
The idol is well decorated with flowers, garlands, and jewels. Devotees believe that during this period, the presence of Lord Ganesha graces their homes and communities, bringing peace and prosperity.
The placing of the idol is done with a holy invocation named Pranapratishtha, where the devotees invite the deity into the idol. It is then followed by Vedic hymns and mantras that make for an atmosphere filled with divinity amidst the celebrations.
The festival lasts for a period of 10 days, during which daily prayers are offered in the morning and evening. The puja includes flowers, sweets, coconut, durva grass, and modak (the favorite sweet of Lord Ganesha). The most important is the Madhyahna Puja, or the midday worship.
Modak Offering: It is the basic offering that is made to Lord Ganesha with a coconut and jaggery filling in a rice or wheat flour dumpling. For this reason, it is covered that Modak offering becomes very dear to Lord Ganesha and he bestows his blessings.
So all the days are spent by chanting devotional songs, mantras like "Om Gan Ganapataye Namah," reading the stories which were from the life of Ganesha, etc. Many devotees also keep a fast during this period of the festival.
On the tenth day of the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival, which is celebrated on the Anant Chaturdashi day, the Ganesha idol is immersed in some water body. The cycle of birth, life, and death is signified through Visarjan.
It also means the way to the heavenly abode after visiting this Earth. The idol has been taken in the procession by carrying, accompanied by singing, dancing, and chanting of "Ganpati Bappa Morya, Pudhchya Varshi Lavkar Ya" in Marathi, which means "Hail Lord Ganesha, come again next year."
The immersion ritual is taken up with feeling and emotion, as the devotees bid goodbye to the dear deity and ask for blessings until the following year's celebrations.
Also Read : When is Durga Puja in 2024, Durga Pooja Date and Calendar
The Ganesh Chaturthi festival, celebrated all over India, has a few unique ways in which certain states celebrate this grand festival on a grander scale than others. Come, let us now see how the different parts of India celebrate this grand festival.
Grand and vibrant celebrations of Ganesh Chaturthi happen in Maharashtra, with extreme significance rooted in cities like Mumbai and Pune.
Huge public pendals are put up all over the state, with some of the biggest attractions receiving thousands of devotees a day. The Lalbaugcha Raja of Mumbai is one of the most iconic and revered Ganesha idols. It runs into millions of visitors during the ten-day festival.
Programs of cultural events, such as music concerts, plays, and dances, are arranged to further add to the festivity in Maharashtra. The festival in this region is not just a religious occasion but also a social and cultural extravaganza.
In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with devotion. Families perform the puja at home but public celebrations are characterized by gorgeously decorated pandals and processions.
Traditional music and dance performances are part of the fanfare. Special prayers are also conducted during this time in temples dedicated to Lord Ganesha.
This festival is celebrated as Pillayar Chaturthi in Tamil Nadu. There, devotees bring home clay idols of Lord Ganesha and worship the deity with offerings of coconuts, modaks, and sweet pongal. The festival is marked by processions and immersions of idols in water bodies.
Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated in Goa with a rare kind of flair for the simple reason that it involves a mix of both Hindu and Christian traditions. The festival is called Chavath here, and at this time, across households, Lord Ganesha is worshipped with a lot of devotion.
A peculiar feature of the Goan house is matoli, a canopy of fruit, flowers, and leaves hung to go above the idol of Ganesha.
The recent decades have increasingly been marked by awareness regarding the impact of the traditional Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations on the environment. Immersion of Plaster of Paris idols in water bodies led to pollution, hence making people shift towards eco-friendly celebrations.
Now, many families and societies prefer to have idols made of natural clay and organic material that would dissolve easily in water and not harm the environment that much.
Besides ecofriendly idols, the decorations used by the devotees must also be biodegradable and plastic must be avoided. Many communities have started symbolic or virtual immersion where immersion is done of a smaller portion at home rather than in public water bodies.
Ganesh Chaturthi means much more than a festival of grand celebrations and cultural performances. This festival teaches or reminds people of the important life lessons epitomized by Lord Ganesha, which are removing of obstacles, pursuit of knowledge, and importance of humility.
This festival reminds us that challenges and difficulties will visit, but with patience, wisdom, and determination, we can get rid of them. Lord Ganesha's large ears remind us to listen more; his small eyes remind us to focus; and the large stomach reminds us about the capacity of digestion regarding good and bad experiences in life.
As the world gears up for Ganesh Chaturthi in 2024, homes and hearts worldwide are welcoming the elephant-headed God, Lord Ganesha. It brings people together, unites communities closer, and generates further unity by way of devotion, enjoyment, and goodwill.
Whether celebrated with great pomp in pandals or quietly in the corners of one's home, Ganesh Chaturthi is a vibrant expression of faith and hope for new beginnings.
A festival that keeps reinventing itself because of the synthesis of ancient traditions with modern values to celebrate in a more eco-friendly manner.
As we step into Ganesh Chaturthi 2024, let the blessings of Lord Ganesha enlighten our path toward a successful, peaceful, and sustainable future.
