DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, June 14, 2014 (Daytona Beach News-Journal): Wearing saris and carrying offerings of flowers and coconuts, women and girls processed from North Beach Street to the Hindu Cultural Association building on Madison Avenue east of Mulberry Street in Daytona Beach. The procession on June 7 marked the beginning of a weeklong series of observances and rituals that would consecrate the Hindu Cultural Association building into a religious temple or “mandir,” the first Hindu temple for Volusia County, members said.
The Hindu Cultural Association purchased the 1.2-acre site at 150 Madison Ave. in 2006, according to the Volusia County Property Appraiser. After a fundraising campaign, the 6,110-square-foot building was completed last year with a value of $377,093. It opened in late 2013 for cultural events and meetings but the building would not gain its religious status until this week, members said.
On Monday, in a nine-hour ceremony from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., statues were imbued with religious significance as believers “put the soul to the statues,” believing them to be living representations of Deities.