Bringing Ganesha home
Before the day, clean the house and prepare a decorated platform. Bring home a clay image, its face covered, with music and the cry "Ganpati Bappa Morya". Place it on a platform covered with red or yellow cloth on a heap of rice, facing east or west, with a kalash beside it.
The puja
Bathe, wear clean clothes and purify yourself and the place. Make the sankalpa for the puja and worship Ganesha first. Then perform the prana pratishtha, the invocation of life into the image: touching its heart, recite the mantra of invocation, or ask the priest to do it. From this moment the image is worshipped as Ganesha himself.
Worship him with the sixteen offerings: water, panchamrita, a red cloth and sacred thread, red sandal, sindoor, red flowers, 21 blades of durva grass, shami leaves, incense, a lamp, and 21 modaks or laddoos as naivedya, with fruit, betel and dakshina. Recite his 108 names or the Ganapati Atharvashirsha, read the katha and perform the aarti "Sukhakarta Dukhaharta" or "Jai Ganesh Deva".
Through the days of his stay he is worshipped morning and evening with aarti and food.
Visarjan
On the last day, after the uttara puja, the final worship, offer curd-rice and modaks for his journey, ask forgiveness and carry him to the water, singing, and immerse him with the prayer that he return next year. Many families now immerse clay images in a tank or bucket at home.