Ganesha and the moon

It’s a tradition possibly now forgotten that one does not look at the moon on Ganesh Chathurthi. Amma says:
Once Ganesha was returning home on Chathurthi night. After having feasted on all the offerings made by his devotees, Ganesha was quite full. Burping his way back home, he passed by the neighbourhood pond. Something inside the pond caught his attention and he leaned over to look at it. “I wonder what that is?” he thought leaning over to see the shining, white thing that had caught his eye. It was thin, white and curved. “Mmm, I think it’s a piece of coconut,” thought Ganesha, greedily, although he was quite full after eating all the prasadam that day!!
Now the moon was watching from above with a lot of amusement because Ganesha was looking at the moon’s reflection in the water. On Chathurthi, the moon looks like a sliver of coconut and that was why Ganesha was fooled. The moon kept silent to see what Ganesha would do next. Ganesha clambered down to the banks of the river and dove into the water to grab the “coconut.” Of course it wasn’t there and then the moon started laughing at the wet and upset Ganesha. At this, Ganesha was furious that he had been fooled and how he had let himself get fooled. He looked up at the moon and said, “For playing a mean trick like that on me, I curse you that if anyone looks at the moon on Chathurthi day, all their pujas will bear no fruit. I will not grant any of their wishes.”
And so to this day, if you ask Ganesha for something on his birthday it’s best you avoid looking at the moon so that your wish is granted!!!