The Sept. 8 parade kicked
off this year’s Ganesh Chaturthi festival.
Vittaya Yoondorn
Hindu and Buddhists are again celebrating Ganesh
Chaturthi in Pattaya, using a 15-day festival at Lan Po Public Park to
immerse idols representing the “god of success” in the sea to fete the
son of supreme deity Shiva.
The Sept. 8-23 event organized by the city and the
Pattaya Ganesh Lovers Club kicked off with a parade through Pattaya on
Sept 8, to display Ganesh’s image so followers could pray for their own
success and obstacles to be removed. Pattaya officials and club leaders
then led followers in an evening candle-lighting ceremony.
A second parade will be held Sept 19 beginning at
4:19 p.m. at Lan Po Public Park in Naklua. The parade will go around
Pattaya, ending at Wat Chonglom in Naklua. Religious ceremonies at Wat
Chonglom will begin at 7.39 p.m. and will include Lord Graha prayers,
108 incantations, 21 kinds of leaves prayers, Khrob Sian Khru and much
more.
Following religious ceremonies, Lord Ganesh’s statue
will be released into the sea behind Wat Chonglom in Naklua. This ritual
immersion of Ganesha images made of plaster of Plaster of Paris into the
sea symbolizes a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his
abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of his
devotees.
The festival - the third year it has been held in
Thailand - will be the country’s largest celebration of its kind. Past
activities include fireworks, liturgy prayer ceremony, Ganesh
head-covering ceremony, fire worship and exhibition of more than 2,000
Ganesha figurines.
Based on past years, the event should be well
attended, as Ganesh is among the most-transcendent of Hindu gods,
worshipped throughout western and southeast Asia. In India, he is
revered not only as a remover of obstacles, but a “god for everyman” and
the “lord of beginnings.” In Thailand, Buddhists recognize him as the
“god of success,” appearing in Mahayana Buddhism texts in the form of
the Buddhist god Vinayaka as well as a Hindu demon form with the same
name.
For more information, contact Chaiwat Daechonthee,
president of Lord Ganesh Club, at 058-8172286 - 089-1458100.
