Why Does Ganesh have an Elephant head and why is it prayed first?

Ganesh is the beginning of all things and why is that? It goes back to how Ganesh received an elephant's head. As the popular story goes, when Lord Shiva returned home from his deep meditation, his wife, Parvati Devi, had created a little boy out of turmeric clay and breathed life into him. She had specifically instructed him to guard the door while she bathed. Being the obedient son -- and clearly, a stranger to his father -- Ganesh quickly went into "bouncer mode" and did not allow even Shiva to enter when he arrived. (Apparently all that meditating didn't do much good because Shiva lost his temper after being denied entry).

 

Things escalated pretty quickly because Shiva chopped off Ganesh's head -- at which point, Parvati saw the commotion. She demanded Shiva bring Ganesh back to life or else she would "wreak havoc on heaven and earth." While it's perfectly normal for someone to say this in the heat of the moment, the key difference is that Parvati is actually capable of doing just that. So Shiva sprinted to action and promptly replaced Ganesh's head with the first living animal he saw... (spoiler alert): an elephant. 

 

But that wasn't enough for Parvati. She insisted to Shiva, that going forward, Ganesh would always be prayed to first, among all of the gods and goddesses. He would be considered to be the remover of obstacles and the one people turn to in times of hope and despair.