The weekend Part 2

Came back bout 4 and took a nap, evening went to pasar malam. That night the Chariot came out. Why? Coz it was Vinayagar Chaturthi.... (So no double moon)

Vinayagar Chaturthi is grandly celebrated in Malaysia. All Vinayagar temples celebrate this festival. Other temples also often celebrate it, especially if there is no Vinayagar temple in that area. Vinayagar Chaturthi falls on the 4th day of the new moon in the month of Aavani (August-September).

It was lovely, they had Urumi Melam(drums and trumpet) and Coconut breaking and the chariot was pulled by people on a long rope and 2 cows, awesome

Why celebrate?
Legends say that, lord Ganapati was created by goddess Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva. She has created him with the dough she used for her bath, as she had needed one door-keeper while she takes bath. For this Goddess Parvati had created one doll first and breathed life into him. And this day is known as the birthday of lord Ganesha. It is also said that, while Goddess Parvati was taking her bath Lord Shiva happened to come there and as Ganesha didn't know him, he didn't allow him to enter the house. As a result Lord Shiva got angry and he beheaded Ganesha. But after realizing the real fact lord Shiva fixed the head of an elephant in place of Ganesha's head and thus the appearance of Lord Ganesha with the head of an elephant happened.

Another most popular legend found in Skanda Purana says, once Ganesha was invited for a feast in Chandralok. The god, known for his ravenous appetite, stuffed himself with laddoos. When he got up to walk after the meal, he could not balance because of his huge stomach and stumbled. As he fell, his stomach burst and all the laddoos came rolling out. The moon could not contain himself and began laughing. Enraged, Ganesha cursed the moon, causing him to vanish from the universe. However because of the moon's absence, the whole world began to wane. So the gods asked Shiva to persuade Ganesha to relent. The moon also apologized for his misbehaviour. On Shiva's intervention, Ganesha modified his curse. He announced that the moon would be invisible on only one day of a month and would be partially seen for the Ganesha Utsav most part.

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