FLUSHING, NEW YORK, September 2011 (by Lavina Melwani): This isn’t Kashi or Prayag but thousands of devotees clog the streets, dancing and chanting as Ganesha’s Ratha Yatra takes place – in Queens, New York. Yes, this pilgrimage spot happens to be in Flushing, Queens, and Hindu-Americans came to celebrate Ganesha Chaturthi from as far as California, Florida, Texas, Atlanta – and even India!
Ganesha Chaturthi is the 9 day Hindu festival celebrating the birth of this joyful deity and is one of the most colorful national festivals of India. In India, after rituals, chanting and prayers, thousands of clay images of Ganesha are taken out in joyous processions in the streets before being immersed in the ocean in a rite called Visarjna. The festival is especially big in Maharashtra, but is now being celebrated in many parts of the Indian Diaspora.
Appropriately, the very first Hindu temple to be built in America was the one dedicated to Ganesha, who is after all, the Lord of New Beginnings. The Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapati Devasthanam, also known as the Hindu Temple Society of North America, in Flushing, New York is a magnificent temple in the South Indian tradition. It is here that Ganesh Chaturthi was first celebrated in America in 1977 and has been a major annual event ever since. Ganesh Chaturthi, also known as Vinaya Chaturthi, is celebrated on the chaturthi or fourth day after the new moon in the Tamil month of Avani (August – September.)
It is Lord Ganesha’s birthday and everyone is invited to this giant block party. Over 50,000 lunches are prepared; there are hundreds of pounds of sweets and hundreds of gallons of rose milk. About 20,000 people turn up over the course of nine days at this temple. On the 9th day, Lord Ganesh is bathed and decorated and readied for the ceremony. At 1 p.mHe is taken in the rath or chariot out into the streets of Flushing, with devotees pulling the ropes, accompanied by musicians and drummers. Along the route merchants in the area ply the masses with food, water and drinks, as thousands of worshipers throng around.
In the evening as the sun sets in Hindu communities around the world, thousands of clay images of Ganesha are taken in procession to be immersed in the ocean in countries across the diaspora. Says Dr. Uma Mysorekar, president of the Hindu Temple Society of North America, “When the clay dissolves in the water, the energy of Ganesha is spread all over, floating across the oceans to bless the entire universe.”
Here, due to environmental concerns, the temple’s clay Ganesha cannot be submerged in a river but is immersed in a plastic swimming pool in the temple’s backyard. Once the clay melts into the water over a period of several days, this holy water is sprinkled on the lawn.