Ganesh Chathurthi or Vinayakar chathurthi is a festival celebrated with devotion and joy by people all over India. It is the birthday of Lord Ganesha-The Elephant God. The excitement of Ganesh Chaturthi settles in weeks before the festival actually begins. Artisans start preparing clay idols of Ganesha in different sizes and poses.The idols are brought home and installed in a “Pandal” or “Mandapam”. People decorate this with garlands,flowers and lights. They do the puja in a grand manner by offering flowers,modhak,laddoos and sweets. Ganesha is the “remover of obstacles”. Therefore people pray to Him before starting any important work or event in life.
At Ekadaksha Learning center too,the excitement settled in before a week.The children of "Experience" classes started making eco-friendly Ganesha idols using clay while the children of “Express” classes were making lovely umbrellas and decorating them for Ganesha.The team of teachers started preparing a model of Mount Kailash(The place where Ganesha lives with his parents Shiva and Parvati). Miniature Shiva-Parvathi dolls were also being made.
On the day of celebration,children and teachers came dressed in bright color dresses. Ms.Mari (Volunteer) welcomed the children,introduced the event and displayed the beautiful Ganesha idols and umbrellas done by the children. Flowers and laddoos were also placed as part of the offerings to The Lord.
After this, cute Ganesha made His entry to celebrate His birthday at Ekadaksha. Children and teachers sang “Happy Birthday dear Ganesha" while He cut the laddoo cake. It was then time for the Ganesha Aarti “Jai Ganesha deva”.
This was just one part of the celebration. The party was not yet over. The children were now invited to visit Lord Ganesha at His home in Mount Kailash. The props made by the teacher were arranged beautifully in the room with chill temperatures in order to create a similar atmosphere of the place. Ms.Ganga (Volunteer) gave a brief introduction about Mount.Kailash which is the home of Ganesha’s parents Shiva and Parvathi. She created a mood of Chill breeze setting in as she told the children about how chill and cold Mount Kailash was.She also explained about the gift (mango) which Little Ganesha got by going around his parents to get their blessings.
Each class was taken to this beautiful home. The participated in this story of Lord Ganesha and enjoyed themselves. Lord Ganesha welcomed the children and teachers. He introduced them to Shiva and Parvathi. Ganesha and the children went around His parents 3 times and received the “mango” gift. They also took a group photograph with this backdrop. The children really enjoyed the Mount Kailash set up. They observed and enjoyed touching Shiva Parvathi with joy and curiosity.They were able to understand the mango story well too. They beautifully answered the questions based on the story during the interactive session.
At the end of the celebration,everyone formed a circle and enjoyed dancing for the peppy Ganesha songs. In addition to the feast to eyes and ears,the children enjoyed the feast to their taste buds too with the yummy vadai,sundal and Ganesha’s birthday laddoos.
Thus,The Vinayakar Charthuthi celebration at Ekadaksha was full of enjoyment of cutting laddoos,singing bhajans,dancing and having a small tour of Mount Kailash. Click here to see photos of this great celebration of Lord Ganesha's birthday.
Click here to see a video of the celebrations.
May Lord Ganesha remove all the obstacles from our lives and bless us with good health,happiness and prosperity.
Happy Ganesh Chathurthi.
