On Sunday September 7th my mom and aunt witnessed the Ganesh Visarjan ceremony, since they couldn’t stop raving about it and my aunt went on to say “Rose I wished you witnessed it to so you could tell it to your audience” I thought why not blog about this beautiful religious ceremony, so here goes:

Ganeshotsav or Ganesh-Utsav, which begins on Ganesha Chaturthi, culminates on Anant Chaturdashi. Hence Ganeshotsav is celebrated for 10 days in the month of Bhadrapada. The last day of festivity is known as Ganesha Visarjan. Ganesha Visarjan is also known as Vinayaka Nimajjanam in Telugu speaking regions.

On the eleventh day the statue of Lord Ganesha is immersed into water body, preferably in a river, lake or the sea. After the final offering of coconuts, flowers and sweets, the statues of Lord Ganesha are taken to the water body through the street procession with much fanfare. Thousands of devotees join the procession and fill the whole atmosphere with chanting of Lord Ganesha. “Ganapati Bappa Morya” and “Ganesh Maharaj Ki, Jai” are few of the famous slogans which are chanted throughout the procession.

My mom and aunt stayed all night in the temple with other devotees and they all proceeded to Rockaway Beach. Tassa players, colorful powder all made this ceremony so vibrant.

According to wiki – The festival involves installing clay images of Ganesha in public pandals (temporary shrines), which are worshipped for ten days with different variety of herbal leaves, plants and immersed at the end of the festival in a water(lake) along with the Idol. After adding herbal and medicated plants and leaves(patri) in lakes, the water in the lake becomes purified. This was in practice because, in early days people used to drink lake water, and to protect people with infections and viral diseases especially in this season, this tradition was introduced. Some Hindus also install the clay images of Ganesha in their homes. It is believed that Ganesha bestows his presence on earth for all his devotees during this festival. The festival is celebrated as a public event since the days of Shivaji (1630–1680).

So interesting, so unique, so beautiful, did you attend a Ganesh Visarjan? Would love for you to comment under this post.

xoxo