It is that time of the year again when Indians across the country and the world, get ready to welcome their beloved deity, Lord Ganesha, lovingly called ‘Bappa’, into their homes and hearts.

This year, Twitter joins the festive fervour by launching a special Lord Ganesha Twitter emoji that Indians can Tweet to welcome the much-loved god home on Monday, 5th September. When people Tweet using #GaneshChaturthi,#HappyGaneshChaturthi, #Ganeshotsav, #गणेशचतुर्थी, #गणेशोत्सव, a Lord Ganesha emoji will be activated next to the hashtag. The emoji will go live on the evening of Sunday, 4th September, and will be active until the last day of celebrations on Friday, 16th September.

Compose a Tweet using #GaneshChaturthi, #HappyGaneshChaturthi, #Ganeshotsav, #गणेशचतुर्थी, #गणेशोत्सव and the special Twitter emoji will appear next to the hashtag.

During this 10-day festival, Twitter lights up with the vibrancy of the festival as Indians across the country share photos and videos of their favourite pandals, the decorations, the street processions, the festival food and sweets, the traditional clothes, and the joy of meeting friends and family over this occasion. Twitter emojis are a wonderful way to bring people closer during a festive moment in real time, to foster shared experiences and delightful conversations.

According to Viral Jani, Head Media partnerships, Twitter India, “Twitter is the best way to see what’s happening in your world right now, and we are the live connection to India’s cultural diversity, festivals, languages in the spirit of unity. Over the past year, we have seen the nation come together over cultural moments such as Diwali and even local moments such as Makar Sankranti in Gujarat. We are launching a special Twitter emoji for Ganesh Chaturthi to delight our millions of Indians celebrating this local cultural moment.”

Festivities have already begun playing out on Twitter as users welcome Lord Ganesha home:

Embeddable Tweet: https://twitter.com/DVSBJP/status/771249198385631232

In the past, Twitter has celebrated the Indian culture by announcing customised emojis for significant moments such as Independence Day, Republic Day, and the International Day of Yoga. The first-ever Diwali emoji was announced in November 2015 and the #HappyDiwali emoji received 1.8 million Tweets.