Hindus around the country are planning in advance to mark Ganesh Utsav, the festival of Lord Ganesh.

Ganesh Utsav is also celebrated by Hin­dus throughout the world with great de­votion and enthusiasm.

The celebration marks the birth of Lord Ganesh and it will be from Septem­ber 19-29.

The theme is: “A celebration of Hindu unity”.

Lord Ganesh is prominently known as the remover of obstacles.

Because of this, many Hindus worship him before any major endeavor they un­dertake – be it business, marriage, child­birth or personal.

Swami Sanyuktanand said the nation­wide Ganesh Utsav celebrations organ­ised by Fiji Sevashram Sangha will be held at more than 55 venues around Fiji.

“Its aim is to gather hindus from all around Fiji under one common platform of celebrations to mark the birth anni­versary and learning from what value Lord Ganesh symbolises,” Swami Sany­uktanand said.

For the past 23 years, during this fes­tival various educational competitions was also organised for children.

“This is to enhance the hidden talents of our schools. We have a programme for the students from September 20 to Sep­tember 27,” Swami Sanyuktanand said.

The competitions include oratory con­test, drawing, bhajan singing, yogasan, drama, storytelling, hindi kavita, math­ematics, science, hindi spelling, general quiz and ramayan.

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