Ganesh Chaturthi the legend and the relevance

The whole town is very busy celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi and I was curious to understand how the festival began. Since I'm still getting used to the whole demystifying Indian culture piece, I thought I would start with explaining the legend first and then move on to the philosophy. 

Legend : 

Shiva, the destroyer and his bootha ghanas go out hunting. Parvati is home alone and she needs to take a bath. To prevent intruders from coming in she shapes a boy out of the sandal paste she has and breathes life into him. He is a very handsome young man also blessed with strength as he is the son of  Shakthi. Shiva comes home and Ganesha does not let him in. He is indefeatable as he is strong and motivated to defend his mother. Once his army admits defeat, shiva cuts the boys head off. Parvati is extremely upset and shiva tries to revive the boy to placate her. Since he has already removed the head, he sends his warriors out to get the head of any animal. There is a mother elephant that has lost its baby and they get the head for Ganesha. Shiva revives the boy with the elephant head and blesses him. 

Every year Ganeshas rebirth is celebrated as Ganesha Chaturthi. Idols are made of sand symbolic of the way Parvati created the god and he is finally laid to rest in the ocean.

The philosophy:

We all come from nothing and go back to being nothing. No matter how celebrated we are, all of us will one day meet our maker and cease to exist go back to being nothing. Like Ganesha who harmoniously maintains his human form and thought with an animal head, we need to live in harmony with the world around us. 

Ganesha's story is also interesting because he is created by just one of the two elements the mother. He is strong and handsome but he is not aware of the larger being that the divine is. Once he loses his self is when he actually achieves enlightenment and is elevated to the status of divine. His self realisation and the harmony that comes from the coexistence of what we all call the yin and the yang helps this path to enlightenment.