Ahoi Ashtami Vratam The eighth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika, kept by mothers for the well-being and long life of their children.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Ahoi Ashtami
- हिन्दी
- अहोई अष्टमी
Only the names actually in use are listed. A blank script is not an omission: the day may simply not be kept there, or be kept under a different festival's name.
UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place: a tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Looking for the calendar this day belongs to
This day does not fall again in the next three years at this place. A few days are tied to the solar month rather than to the civil year, so a year can hold two of them or none.
What the day is
The eighth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika, kept by mothers for the well-being and long life of their children. An image of Ahoi Mata with eight corners is drawn on the wall or hung as a picture, the story is read in the evening, and the fast is broken at the sight of the stars, or in some families at moonrise, which is late that night.
- Deity
- Ahoi Mata, Parvati
- Kind
- Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.
The hour
The rule in words
The Ashtami running at sunset; like Karwa Chauth it is an evening vrat, so the day is read at sunset rather than at sunrise.
The fast
No food or water through the day for those who keep it strictly; broken after the stars or the moon are seen. Sewing and digging are avoided on the day.
Where the regions differ
Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh keep it, usually eight days before Diwali. The south has no equivalent day for children.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it. A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.