'Coconut festival': A rural practice of worshipping equipments

The Vinayaka Vrata is called ‘Coconut festival’ in the rural part of the taluk, where various equipments– household and agricultural – are worshipped instead of the Ganesha idol.

The usual festive atmosphere is not witnessed in rural parts. The farmers busy themselves in agricultural activities like everyday.

Prayers are offered to the cemetery belonging to the house, fields and farms, cow shed, grind stone and well after a puja is done in the village temple. Women, after their work in the fields return home to prepare kadubu (a sweet dish).

The household and agricultural equipments are placed in a corner of the house and kadubu, Lord Ganesha’s favourite food, is placed in the front. In the puja that follows, there is no mention of Lord Ganesha.

The family members sit together and have food after the puja and thus ends the coconut festival.

Next day is the ‘Varshatodaku’ day which is celebrated with a non-vegetarian meal.People chip in money as in a chit fund—only for the purchase of meat. The money collected is used to purchase goats and pigs and they are slaughtered and shared between people who have chipped in the money. The aroma of the meal is all over the place by the time of sunrise in the village. This is one of the important part of the tradition.

Another highlight of the festivity is the remembrance of the ancestors and honouring the women of the family. According to the tradition, the married daughters of the families are gifted cloth pieces, turmeric and vermillion. With the changing times, the cloth piece is replaced with a sari and blouse.

The families that are well to do go a step forward and gift money and gold. This has now become an expensive affair for the poor and middle class families.  Lord Ganesha, however, has now entered these villages as social workers and politicians have started distributing Ganesha idols for free.

The youth of the village celebrate Chathurti by placing the idol in a pandal in the village which is followed by its immersion. Despite this, the celebration remains a simple affair.

In the light of grand affairs in the name of Ganesha Chathurti in cities that are marked by pollution and traffic jams, the rural celebrations—where God is seen in instruments used in daily life—stand out for their
simplicity.