Ganesha Chaturthi is one of the largest Hindu festivals, held over an 11-day period every August or September in the Gregorian calendar. It is celebrated throughout India, but also in other countries around the world. This year it runs from Aug. 25 to Sept. 5.
The festival is celebrated in honor of the Hindu god Ganesha. Idols of the god are placed in temporary public shrines and in private houses. They are then paraded around the streets in a procession down to the nearest convenient body of water and immersed.
Ganesha is a major god in the Hindu pantheon, and is instantly recognizable because of his elephant head. He is considered as the god of beginnings, the remover of obstacles and the patron of arts and sciences. Ganesha emerged as a distinct deity as early as the 4th and 5th centuries AD, although the form he took incorporated earlier attributes from ancient Indian texts.
Photo: Reuters
照片：路透社
(Paul Cooper, Taipei Times)
印度象神節是最盛大的印度教節慶之一，在每年陽曆八月或九月連續舉行十一天。不僅印度舉國慶祝，在世界其他國家也有慶典。今年的象神節慶祝期間是八月二十五日至九月五日。
象神節是為了紀念印度神祇伽尼薩。伽尼薩神像先安置在臨時的公共神龕及民宅，然後抬出來沿街遊行，到附近的河川水域施行浸禮。
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照片：路透社
伽尼薩神是印度教眾神中的重要神祇，並因其獨特象頭而能夠立即辨認出。人們相信祂是起始之神，可以消除困難，並為藝術與科學的守護神。早在西元四到五世紀，伽尼薩神便以其獨特的形象存在，儘管其樣貌融合了更早期的印度經典的描述。
（台北時報編譯林俐凱譯）
Photo: EPA
照片：歐新社
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