Myths:
Why People don't look on Moon That Day? There is very popular legend regarding this context. He is very fond of sweet pudding or Ladoos. On one of His birthdays he was going around house to house accepting the offerings of sweet puddings.

Having eaten a good number of these, he set out moving on his mouse at night. Suddenly the mouse stumbled as it had seen a snake and became frightened with the result of that Ganeshji fell down.

His stomach burst open and all the sweet puddings came out. But Ganeshji stuffed them back into his stomach and, caught hold of the snake and tied it around his belly.

Seeing all this, the moon in the sky had a hearty laugh. This unseemly behaviour of the moon annoyed him immensely and so he pulled out one of his tusks and hurled it against the moon, and cursed that no one should look at the moon on the Ganesh Chaturthi day. If anyone does, he will surely earn a bad name.

Beliefs:
In India, Ganeshji is worshipped first on all auspicious occasions, whether it is a marriage or a religious function. Ganeshji is the foremost god of the Hindu Pantheon. Any new project or venture that a Hindu family undertakes starts with his name, the housewife utters his name before even starting a small chore as he is the remover of all sankat (obstacles) and is an extremely benevolent god, fulfilling the wishes of those who pray to him sincerely.

Ganeshji also has long been associated with commerce, and merchants still pay homage to him. If an Indian business or bank fails, all the images of Ganeshji in the offices will be turned upside down, signifying the bad luck.

In households, it's common for small offerings of money, flowers and food to be placed before one of the family's effigies of Ganeshji. These tokens please him and he therefore brings more beauty, money and food to the family.