A little late but an update is never too late so here I am sending every thing ranging from living, non-living and the ones in between some positive vibes, hopefully you get it. The festival celebrated on the 24th August of this year was dedicated to a very popular celestial mother-son duo. It is dedicated to Ganesha and his mother Parvati a.k.a Gauri, both festivals though not birthday celebrations have good stories behind them. In Hinduism, the celestial beings arrive at our houses not according to human calendars but instead according to their calendars, the celestial bodies. Positions of stars, planets and others determine the most positive hours therefore the dates of festivals usually fluctuate.
Sati’s reincarnated form was Parvati and Ganesha is the son of Parvati and Shiva. It is said that Sati was the daughter of a king and as she grew her love for Shiva grew more. So strong was her love for Shiva that she rejected marriage proposals and instead left the kingdom to meditate in the forest. One of her many names “Uma” when translated means you don’t which is basically what Sati’s mother kept repeating to her. But for a really long time Sati meditated and concentrated all her energy in getting the attention of her Lord Shiva. Finally Shiva out of curiosity and fascination appeared in front of her where he agreed to make her his bride. The day Shiva agreed to marry Sati a.k.a Gauri is what we call Gauri Habba (Gauri’s Festival). Different families celebrate the festival differently but the typical pattern for the day involves women worshipping idols of the goddess and fasting the entire day. Usually unmarried women worship Sati as a way of celebrating her marriage and asking her for blessings so that they too may succeed in getting a wonderful husband. Married women request Sati to let them have the same husband for the next 7 lives and they pray for the safety of their husband. Women fast on this day because Sati during her penance had given up on all temptations including food, she went for days without food. Such was her dedication to Lord Shiva. Many women break their fast in the evenings while others continue until the next day, the food allowed are fruits & water but many women refuse to have even water until the fast ends.
The Ganesha festival is usually a day after the Gauri Habba, though it is said to his birthday it was not a really popular festival. It was celebrated by the people who followed him but during India’s fight for Independence, Freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak started making Ganesh Chaturti bigger, better and open to the public. As the British could not object to festivals this was the best way for freedom fighters and many others to meet without arousing suspicions. Another reason why this festival was being popularized was because Lokmanya Tilak wanted to remove all racial feelings harbored by higher class hindus against the lower class. Slowly people from different castes, cultures and places started coming together for Ganesh Chaturti celebrations.
We usually get the idols, worship the Goddess then Ganesh and depending on the number of days the Lord stays at our house we chant prayers twice a day until we finally immerse the idols in a water body. As idols originally were made of clay the practice was that the Idols should be returned back to Earth but should not be disposed therefore they were immersed in seas, rivers, lakes and so on. Typically people worship the idols for 1 & 1/2 days, 3 days, 5 days, 7 days or 10 days but there are some who house the idols for months or an entire year.
We too invite our favorite guests home but this year was different where both the Gauri Habba and Ganesh Chaturti were on the same day. I told my mom that I would do the entire Gauri Habba while my brother would do the Ganesh Puja. I never did sleep in the night and was woken up by my darling (I was so excited to have him with me during the entire ceremony). I draped a saree all by myself this year, got all the things ready and began the 2 & 1/2 hour ceremony of chanting, offerings and praying. Never have I been so nervous while doing a ceremony but with his encouragement I managed to complete it and I was drained but excited too so I spent the day partially asleep in front of my computer before I decided to take a nap. Turns out my brother with the help of a friend managed to complete the ceremony without mom’s help (I am surprised). At midnight I decided to break my fast, had a nice heavy dinner and then spent some time with the nephew. The next day in the evening we said goodbye to the mother and son with some prayer and then promised to invite them again next year. This year was fun because instead of our parents it was me and my brother you did everything. The rest of the city was pretty calm this year though i am not sure whether it is due to environmental awareness or the economy.
Clap
Glad I was about to watch and keep you going, can’t wait for the next one ^_^.