Ganesh Chaturthi 2027: bringing Ganpati home
Ganesh Chaturthi is the day Ganpati comes home. On the fourth day of the bright half of Bhadrapada families bring a murti into the house, worship it for one and a half to ten days, and take it to the water with "Ganpati Bappa Morya".
When it falls next
Ganesh Chaturthi in each region
What Ganesh Chaturthi is
The day is kept as Ganesh's birthday. He is the remover of obstacles in the tradition, worshipped first at every puja, and the patron of learning and of beginnings.
The festival runs to Anant Chaturdashi, the fourteenth day, when the largest processions take the murtis to the sea, the river or a tank. Many homes say goodbye sooner, after one and a half days, five or seven.
In Maharashtra the festival also became a public one, with mandals in every neighbourhood, music, and the dhol and tasha.
How families keep it at home
The murti, often of clay, is brought home with music and set on a decorated stand. The pranapratishtha, the rite of inviting Ganpati into it, is done with mantras, and the family does aarti morning and evening.
Ganpati is offered durva grass, red flowers, and modak, the sweet dumpling of rice flour filled with coconut and jaggery, steamed in Maharashtra and fried in some homes.
Gauri, Ganpati's mother, comes home in many Marathi families for three days in the middle of the festival, and is worshipped and fed like a visiting daughter.
On the last day the family does a final aarti, offers curd rice and modak, and takes Ganpati to the water, asking him to come early next year: "Pudhchya varshi lavkar ya".
How it differs by region
In Maharashtra and Goa, Ganeshotsav is the year's great festival, kept at home and in public mandals.
In Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana it is Vinayaka Chavithi, with kozhukattai, the south's modak, and Gowri worshipped the day before.
Elsewhere many families keep the day at home with a puja, and across India the dark-half chaturthi of each month, Sankashti, is kept for Ganesh too.
How its date is set
Ganesh Chaturthi is the chaturthi of the bright half of Bhadrapada, the day the chaturthi holds at midday, when Ganesh is said to have been born. The Moon is not looked at on its night, in the tradition.
Anant Chaturdashi is the chaturdashi of the same bright half, ten days later, which closes the festival.
Read the Ganesh aarti, the Ganesh Atharvashirsha and Vakratunda Mahakaya.