Honoring the Elephant God: Ganesha Chaturthi in Manila's Hindu Temple

- September 6, 2016, Tuesday.

- It has been a looooooooong while since I last visited Manila's Little India, and I was starting to miss my "Indian side" for quite some time. Fortunately, the heavens seemed to have felt my "woes," and I somehow got invites from my two Indian friends Jashwin and Jasmine to attend Ganesha Chaturthi at the Manila Hindu Temple. I was initially hesitant, not because I did not want to, but mainly because I am swamped with the stresses of the world lately. Still, I was able to make some time despite my body wanting to stick itself to my bed.

A well-ornamented Ganesh for Ganesha Chaturthi.

-  Ganesh Chaturthi is a monthly celebration for the Hindu god Ganesh. The biggest of these, however, falls on the 6th month of the Hindu calendar, which is around August-September in the Gregorian calendar. Ganesha or Ganesh is recognized as being "the elephant-headed god." He is the god of knowledge and the remover of obstacles. People who pray to him especially during this auspicious event hope that Ganesh will be able to remove their obstacles in things that they are doing or about to do. Jashwin and Jasmine told me that for the big celebration, they celebrate for a week. Since I couldn't go a week straight, I was able to make at least my Tuesday night free for this event. At least, I will be able to get a taste of how this festival was celebrated; this was my first time.

- I arrived around 8pm, just a few moments before the event started. People were already lined up to pay their respects to the god, and some even took pictures with the two statues of the gods.

People paid their respects to the two Ganesh statues.

More people lined up to do just that. The symbol (upside down when this photo was taken) is the "om" symbol. 

- At around 8:15, the main event started. The prayer session had a series of bhajans (songs) and aartis (another set of songs) and some prayers/chants. Most of them were dedicated to Ganesh apart from the Lakshmi aarti that was also sung. After the prayer session, prasad was distributed to everyone. "Prasad" refers to the food offerings that are given to all the devotees after the prayer session; these are usually finger food and are usually sweet like Indian sweets of small fruits. One important sweet is the ladoo, which is a sweet yellow ball made of chickpea flour and sugar. This is an important aspect of Ganesh-related rituals, because it is said that Ganesh has a sweet tooth and so he is sometimes depicted in Indian paintings or sculptures with a bowl of ladoos or modakas (another kind of sweet) at his lower right hand. I showed the giant ladoo in my mouth and I looked like a squirrel or chipmunk.

See how many people there were?? The priests were starting to do some rituals.

Veiled women. No, they aren't Muslims.

Such color!!

The two priests doing more rituals.

People doing puja (offerings.)

Jasmine - a face among the crowd.

I simply adore Indian clothing.

A well-adorned Ganesh.

With Jashwin and Jasmine. My mouth is occupied with the giant ladoo.

- The whole prayer session ended around 9. Finally, it was everyone's favorite time - time for free Indian food!! As for me, I thought of leaving at once since I was afraid that I'd miss the last train home, and it would be difficult for me to find a safe alternative. (This is quite unthinkable - me refusing food, especially Indian food.) Jasmine, however, told me that it was a sign of respect to get some food before leaving. The Indians closely associate food with the gods, and so food is usually an important aspect when these prayer sessions are held, especially big ones. Since I was in a hurry, Jasmine's mom shared some of her food to me. I was quite embarrassed to take some of auntie's food, but as a sign of respect I did anyway. (Hurray for Indian food, and hurray for satisfying my craving for Indian food.) I ate some really awesome Indian food (chapati, daal, vegetable curry, etc.). Finally, I found Jashwin and say goodbye, then Jasmine and her cousin dropped me off at the train station. Fortunately, I was able to take the last train home.

- Despite my hopelessly tired self, I was able to feed a part of me that hasn't been "fed" lately - my "Indian self." Well I know I'm not Indian so to speak, but as people who know me would understand, I do many Indians things because of my interest in the country/culture/people. I was honestly waiting for diwali (around November) to go back to Little India, when I'm quite sure that there's some kind of activity going on because of the grandness and greater significance of the festival, but attending my first Ganesha Chaturthi was a colorful, gastronomic, and spiritual treat to my tired and weary self.