Visting the largest Hindu Temple in North America!

The Hindu Temple Society of Canada - Richmond Hill Ganesha Temple

Our fam loves Doors Open Ontario where participating buildings are open to the public—whether they be a heritage site or an interesting structure. We get to check out places we wouldn’t normally go to or even be invited to. This year, one of the places we checked out was the Ganesha Temple in Richmond Hill.

Built in the ‘80’s, the Richmond Hill Ganesha Temple complex is said to be the largest Hindu Temple in North America built and run under the Agama Sastra traditions ( in conformance with the scriptures for rules of worship, temple building, rituals, etc).The Muruga idol in the temple is also said to be the tallest in the world!

outside the Richmond Hill Ganesha Temple

We took our shoes off upon entering the building. There were a lot of friendly staff and volunteers who advised us what to do and where to go. We were assigned a couple of boys who took us through the temple and explained the stories behind each god and figure. They explained the customs—among which were the food that was offered, the bell which rang across the temple, the powder they placed on their foreheads.

When visiting a Hindu temple:

1. Dress accordingly—as with other churches or temples, this is a sign of respect
2. Take off your shoes
3. If you have long hair, tie it. There were containers of elastics in the hall in case you forgot.
4. You are supposed to circle the temple clockwise
5. The main diety is in the middle or main shrine and there are secondary dieties alongside
6. Offerings of fruit on trays can be purchased outside the temple and then placed on tables before the shrine

inside the Richmond Hill Ganesha Temple

inside the Richmond Hill Ganesha Temple

I will not even attempt to recount the stories of Ganesh and Shiva, but I can tell you that they were very, very interesting. We enjoyed learning about the Hindu religion and I loved that the girls were getting exposed to a different culture.

Outside the temple, in the hall, there were musical performances. After the temple tour, we went down to the basement where they served snacks and refreshments. For the adventurous like us and usual temple-goers, they had some vegetable sambal (sweet potato and eggplant in a spicy curry) which we took with some rice. If you don’t like spicy, there were McDonald’s coffee and croissants. 

having some Sambal

After our snack, the girls and I had some henna tattoos done on our hands (they stayed on our hands for over a week!).  They even had giveaways as we left.

Henna Tattoos!

We spent a good 2 hours in there. Overall it was a great experience. Glad to have been able to enter the temple and to have our personal guides to boot!