Vinayagar Chaturthi Festival The birthday of Ganesha and the largest Ganesha day of the year.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Vinayagar Chaturthi
- தமிழ்
- விநாயகர் சதுர்த்தி
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The birthday of Ganesha and the largest Ganesha day of the year. A clay pillaiyar is made or bought, installed at home, worshipped for a day or for three, five, seven or nine days, and then taken to water and immersed. Twenty-one blades of arugampul (bermuda grass) and twenty-one modakam are the classical offering.
- Deity
- Ganesha
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Madhyahna, midday, is the hour of the birth, so the sthapana and the first puja are at midday; the calendar takes the day on which Shukla Chaturthi runs at madhyahna.
The fast
Many fast until the midday puja and eat after it. Modakam, kozhukattai, sundal and appam are made; the moon is deliberately not looked at that night, as seeing it is held to bring a false accusation.
Where the regions differ
Maharashtra and the Telugu country keep ten days to the immersion on Anantha Chaturdashi; Tamil Nadu more often immerses the same evening or on the third day. Kerala calls it Vinayaka Chaturthi and keeps it quietly at home.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.