Vinayagar or Ganesha Sathurthi

Vinayagar or Ganesha Sathurthi is widely celebrated by Hindus everywhere. The festival will lasts for 10 days. The main sweet-dish for this function is modakas(kuzhukattai), also known as modagams in South India. A modaka is a sort of dumpling made from rice flour with a stuffing of coconut, jaggery (brown sugar) and some other ingredients. Puranas say that Lord Ganesha was created by Goddess Parvati, wife of Lord Shiva. Parvati created Ganesha out of the sandalwood dough and breathed life into him. She made him stand as a gaurd at the door while she went to have her bath. However, while 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 severed the head of the child and entered his house. But after realizing that he had beheaded his own son, Lord Shiva fixed the head of an elephant in place of Ganesha's head. In this way, Lord Ganesha acquired the image of the elephant-headed God.