[1] The festival is marked with the installation of Ganesha's murtis (devotional representations of a deity) privately in homes and publicly on elaborate pandals (temporary stages).

[1] Offerings and prasada from the daily prayers, that are distributed from the pandal to the community, include sweets such as modak as it is believed to be a favourite of Ganesha.

[1][8] Ganesh Chaturthi is also observed by the Hindu diaspora elsewhere such as in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Singapore, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, other parts of the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa,[9] the United States, and Europe.

[5][10][11] Although the origin of Ganesh Chaturthi remains unknown, it became increasingly popular after a public celebration was initiated by the prominent Anti-Colonial Freedom Fighter, Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak, in Maharashtra in the year 1893.

[20] Although it is unknown when (or how) Ganesh Chaturthi was first observed, the festival has been publicly celebrated in Pune since the era of King Shivaji (1630–1680, founder of the Maratha Empire).

[21][better source needed] The Peshwa in the 18th century were devotees of Ganesha and started as a public Ganesh festival in their capital city of Pune during the month of Bhadrapad.

[22] After the start of the British Raj, the Ganesh festival lost state patronage and became a private family celebration in Maharashtra until its revival by Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak.

[21][23] Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak,[24] championed it as a means to circumvent the colonial British government ban on Hindu gatherings through its anti-public assembly legislation in 1892.

[30] In 1893, the Indian freedom fighter Lokmanya Tilak praised the celebration of Sarvajanik Ganesh Utsav in his newspaper, Kesari, and dedicated his efforts to launch the annual domestic festival into a large, well organised public event.

[40] In Tilak's estimate, Ganesha worship and processions were already popular in rural and urban Hindu populations, across social castes and classes in Baroda, Gwalior, Pune and most of the Maratha region in the 18th century.

[41] In 1893, Tilak helped expand Ganesh Chaturthi festival into a mass community event and a hidden means for political activism, intellectual discourse, poetry recitals, plays, concerts, and folk dances.

On the same day, Chaurchan festival is celebrated in Mithila region of Bihar which is related to Ganesha and Chandra, the Hindu moon god.

This is followed by the 16-step Shodashopachara ritual,[47] (Sanskrit: Shodash, 16; Upachara, process) during which coconut, jaggery, modaks, durva grass and red hibiscus (Jaswand) flowers[48] are offered to the idol.

Depending on the region and time zone, the ceremony commences with hymns from the Rigveda, the Ganapati Atharvashirsa, the Upanishads and the Ganesh stotra (prayer) from the Narada Purana are chanted.

[51] At home, the festival preparation includes purchases such as puja items or accessories a few days in advance and booking the Ganesh murti as early as a month beforehand (from local artisans).

The Murti is worshipped in the morning and evening with offerings of flowers, durva (strands of young grass), karanji and modaks (jaggery and coconut flakes wrapped in rice flour dumplings).

[55] In Goa, Ganesh Chaturthi is known as Chavath in Konkani and Parab or Parva ("auspicious celebration");[56] it begins on the third day of the lunar month of Bhadrapada.

[57] Instruments such as ghumots, crash cymbals (ताळ(taal) in Konkani) and pakhavaj (an Indian barrel-shaped, two-headed drum) are played during the rituals.

Ganesh Chaturthi, in addition to its religious aspects, is an important economic activity in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Indore, Surat, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Bangalore, Chennai and Kurnool.

[67] In Thiruvananthapuram a procession marches from the Pazhavangadi Ganapathi Temple to Shankumugham Beach, with tall Murti of Ganesha made from organic items and milk immersed in the sea.

The processional deity of Vinayaka (Ganesh) will be taken in a procession on different vahanams on these days amidst large number of pilgrims across the country.

[71] Annual celebrations are also held on the River Mersey in Liverpool,[72][73] in the North Sea at Clacton-on-Sea,[74] and Caldecotte Lake in Milton Keynes.

A modak is a dumpling made from rice or wheat flour, stuffed with grated coconut, jaggery, dried fruits and other condiments and steamed or fried.

[81] In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana modak, laddu, vundrallu (steamed, coarsely ground rice-flour balls), panakam (a jaggery-, black pepper- and cardamom-flavoured drink), vadapappu (soaked moong lentils) and chalividi (a cooked rice flour and jaggery mixture) are offered to Ganesh.

[83] The Madras High Court ruled in 2004 that immersion of Ganesh idols is unlawful because it incorporates chemicals that pollute the sea water.

[85] Recent initiatives to produce traditional clay Ganesh idols in Hyderabad have been sponsored by the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board.

[86][87] Environmental concern is also making people in Gujarat to opt for Ganesh idols made with a mixture of cow dung and clay.