Fact Check: Ganesh sculpture from oranges made in France but NOT in Holland
Recently, a video showing a huge idol of Ganesh made of oranges with a caption “Holland is said to be the oranges capital in the world. The locals use the best part of their harvest to celebrate the festival of Vinayaka Chaturthi. Please see the unique ceremony they perform.”
Ganesh Chaturthi is dedicated to Lord Ganesha, the god of wisdom, wealth and fortune. It is one of the most important festivals celebrated by Indian communities. Ganesh Chatruthi is celebrated across India and also in countries like Canada, Mauritius, USA, etc.
Recently, a video showing a huge idol of Ganesh made of oranges with a caption "Holland is said to be the oranges capital in the world. The locals use the best part of their harvest to celebrate the festival of Vinayaka Chaturthi. Please see the unique ceremony they perform."
Telugu Post also found that this video was recently shared by celebrities like Arjun Rampal too on Instagram.
This claim went viral previously in 2021 too.
Fact check:
The claim that the video shows Ganesh Chatruthi celebrations in Holland is FALSE. The Ganesha idol seen in the video was created in Menton, France, as a part of lemon festival.
When the key frames extracted from the video were searched using Google reverse image search, we found several stock images of the Ganesha made of oranges mentioning that it is from Menton, France, taken on 18th February, 2018.
Taking the clue from this, we searched with keywords "Lemon festival in Menton", showing several articles sharing similar images.
According to an article in The Week, a Bollywood-themed festival was celebrated in the Southern French Riviera town of Menton during its 85th edition of Fete-du-Citron (Lemon Festival)
Efe.com, a French publication, published the images of the sculptures made of oranges and lemons. We can see the sculpture of Ganesha also in these images.
The same image was published on Reuters pictures on February 15, 2018 with the caption "A sculpture made with lemons and oranges which depicts elephant-headed Hindu god Ganesha is seen during the 85th Lemon festival around the theme "Bollywood" in Menton, France, February 15, 2018. "
Hence, an art sculpture created using oranges and lemons as part of Lemon Festival celebrated in Menton, France, in February 2018 is shared with a false narrative as that from Holland. The claim is FALSE.
