ALTARE, ITALY, August 28, 2019 (IVG translated from Italian): Two thousand faithful of the Hindu communities participated, as every year, in the Pellegrino ad Altare area at the Ganesh Festival. The pilgrims also came from outside to then find themselves, as tradition dictates, the anniversary dedicated to the God Ganesh. The celebrations took place at the Shri Lalita Mahatripurasundari Temple which stands inside the Monastery (Matha) Svami Gitananda Ashram. The theme of prayer was the peace and quiet of the elements. This year, a statue of the Deity Ganesh was carried in procession. And so between rituals, songs, dances and traditional food the main Hindu center in Europe was animated by the presence of thousands of devotees mainly from India and Sri Lanka coming from all over Italy France and Switzerland.
In Italy, according to estimates, there are one million devotees to the Hindu religion. In a sense this is the main center of the Italian Hindu Union, where Hindus of various traditions and backgrounds, both from India and not, come together. Altar is also a place of monastic formation: there is a temple with many deities that represent that God who is one but manifests itself in many names. Today a dozen people live in the monastery, including some Italian monks.