Ganesh Chaturthi, or Vinayaka Chaturthi, welcomes Ganesha, the elephant-headed remover of obstacles, into homes and public pandals. A clay image is installed with breath-giving rites, worshipped with modak, red flowers and durva grass for a period ranging from a day and a half to eleven days, and then carried in procession and immersed in water on Anant Chaturdashi.
The festival falls on the fourth tithi (Chaturthi) of the waxing fortnight of Bhadrapada. The installation and first puja are done in the midday period, Madhyahna, when Chaturthi prevails, so the muhurta shifts with local noon. Custom advises against looking at the Moon on this night, a rule linked to a story of Ganesha and the Moon's mockery.
The scale of observance is regional: Maharashtra, Goa and parts of Karnataka and Andhra keep it as a major public festival, while elsewhere it is mainly a domestic rite.