Ganesh Chaturti, the festival celebrating the birth of Lord Ganesh, comes along with different colours of the season, to make his stay in each Hindu household a comfortable experience. The matoli consists of an assortment of fruits and vegetables that are tied above the makkar either on a string or to a wooden frame attached to the roof above the idol. A traditional matoli usually consists of fruits like chikoo, banana, orange, melon, mangoes, hog plums (ambade), carambolas, pumpkin, apple, guava, breadfruit, avocado, pomegranate, grapefruit, pomelo (toring), custard apple, coconut, pineapple, lemon, sugarcane, betel nut, etc. Vegetables comprise of banana flowers, pumpkin, lady finger, cucumber, musk melon, snake gourd (padwal), ridge gourd (gousauli) and a different type of pumpkin called Konkan dudhi. The list of berries include mauvling, kangla, nagsheo, gagrueo, kounna, karane, matta and flowers include haranche fulla, maddachi poin and finally mango leaves.
As the festive season and also known as Chavath, the local term for Chaturthi in Goa, will be celebrated on Saturday, September 7, the various markets in Goa have a display of beautiful colours of these natural produce. The market gets flooded with seasonal fruits, vegetables and rare berries. Hindus visit these makeshift bazaars to buy produce to add to their collection for the matoli. The fervour and joy that goes into these decorations and preparatory activities set the tone for the entire festival. It is also believed that since Lord Ganesh is considered the ultimate provider, the fruits and vegetables of the season are offered to him with a prayer for a more fruitful produce the next year. The amount of fruits and vegetables hung on a single matoli can sometimes amount to 150 items.