Synonymous with strength and wisdom, Ganesha is one of India’s most beloved gods. Ganesh Chaturthi, which falls on 2 September this year, celebrates the elephant god and his vahana, the mouse, and the whole of India is already gearing up for it. With awareness growing over the use of synthetic and harmful materials, important festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, and Christmas are turning more eco-friendly.
In this post, we give you some of our favourite ideas (that we have tried out ourselves!) to make your Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations more creative and fun without harming the environment in the process.
Incorporate coconuts
The first thing that comes to your mind when you think of Ganpati? Coconut. It’s Ganesha’s most preferred fruit and breaking a coconut signifies Ganesha removing obstacles from your path. So, why not make stunning backdrops for Ganpati with coconuts! Being incredibly versatile, every part of the coconut can be used in enhancing your decor for Ganesha.
Don’t throw away those empty coconut shells. Use them to hold tea-lights and line them up around the Ganesha idol or the pandal. Or thread colourful strings through the shells and hang them from the ceiling. Use coconut fibre to build a mandap resembling a thatched hut.
Reuse materials
Put those old saris and scarves to good use. Drape some of those colourful pallus around the mantap or plant sticks on the ground around the Ganesha and wrap these saris around for a very classy look. Elegant silks and graceful cotton scarves can be hung from the ceiling like bunting to enhance the festive look and atmosphere.
Have old cardboard boxes lying around? Or thermocol slabs? Get your creative cells working and put them to good use. You can build your entire Ganpati mantap with these materials and deck them up with the help of beads, coloured paper, glitter, and other art accessories. Thermocol is bad for the environment, but only if you throw them away. Reuse them every year to save the environment and yourself the trouble of thinking up new designs.
Lighting up in style
How can we forget lighting on such an important occasion! Lining earthen lamps and small clay diyas lend a beautiful glow that accentuates the festival atmosphere.
Tall terracotta lamp holders are also a great alternative as are LED or energy-efficient lights, which can be switched on and off as needed to save electricity. The ever-popular fairy lights, brass lamps, and hanging lamps are also perfect to light up the ten days of Ganesha.
Natural decor
Flowers are not just for placing at Ganesha’s feet. String flowers together and use them as colourful streamers, pin them on to old dupattas and hang them as screens behind the idol.
Use leafy vines to create a ‘green curtain’ around the idol and the pandal for a unique look. And you don’t even have to pluck flowers to implement some of your creative ideas. Pick up flowers and leaves from the ground, wash them thoroughly, and they are as good as new!
The magic of paper
Know someone who is good at origami? Test their skills with some coloured paper and decorate your Ganesha pandal with their artwork. Streamers, bunting, and wall-hangings can all be made with paper with some deftness and creativity. Ganesha motifs with paper can be used to line up the walls of the pandal or even kept around on the floor to give it a classy touch. Or how about painting or drawing out some of the stories that feature Ganesha and fitting them around the mantap like small murals?
The possibilities for being friendly to our environment are endless, and even the smallest initiative goes a long way to make our celebrations more wholesome.
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi!
