Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
Read more Show less
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
Kerala calendar, computed for Chennai
- Tuesday, 14 September 2027
- Saturday, 2 September 2028
- Thursday, 23 August 2029
Where Avittam · Third Onam falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 14 Sep
- 2028: 2 Sep, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 23 Aug, 11 days earlier
The last days of Onam
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Kerala calendar
- Uthradam · First Onam …
- Thiruvonam · Onam …
- Avittam · Third Onam(this page) …
The dates, year by year
Kerala calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The day after Thiruvonam, when Mahabali takes his leave. In some houses the Onathappan, the clay cone that stands for the king in the courtyard, is taken to the tank or the river and immersed; the Aranmula boat race and the Thrikkakara temple festival fall on these days.
- Deity
- Mahabali, Vamana
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
Avittam is the Moonnam Onam, the third day, when the feasting turns to visiting: married daughters come home or go back, relatives who missed Thiruvonam are seen, and what is left of the sadya is eaten together. The old Onam song remembers Mahabali's reign as the time when all were equal, and this is the day the family bids him goodbye, with the hope that he will find his people as happy next year. The games go on through the week, and the pulikali tiger dancers take to the Thrissur streets on the fourth day. Some houses keep the Onathappan until the Irupathettam Onam, the twenty-eighth day after Thiruvonam, when a last small feast closes the season.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Avittam · Third Onam: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the last of the pookkalam flowers
- the Onathappan to be taken up
- the onakkodi for those still to receive it
- the remains of the sadya
The steps
0 of 7 done
What is cooked
Nothing is cooked from the beginning. What was made for Thiruvonam is eaten together, the olan and the kaalan keeping best, with fresh rice and perhaps one new thoran. The last of the payasam is finished on this day, and the houses that kept the puzhukku for Avittam make it now with yam, plantain and whatever root is left.
The hour
Clock times for Tuesday, 14 September 2027 at Chennai
Avittam nakshatra, the day after Thiruvonam in Chingam.
The main rite. Avittam nakshatra in Chingam, the day after Thiruvonam. There is no puja hour of its own; the lamp is lit at dawn and at dusk as on the other Onam days.
This day's rule names no hour of its own: it is fixed by the tithi or the nakshatra running at sunrise. The rule above is the whole of it, and the day's own times are below.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Chaturdasi from 00:40 until next day 02:49 | then Shukla Pournami until 2 days later, 04:34 |
| Nakshatra | Dhanishta until 08:59 | then Shatabhisha until next day 11:33 |
| Rahu kaal | 15:08 to 16:39 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 09:01 to 10:33 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 12:05 to 13:36 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:40 to 12:29 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 17:08 | moonset next day 05:15 |
For Tuesday, 14 September 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. What is left of the sadya is eaten and the pookkalam is cleared.
What is avoided
No fast is kept. The Onathappan and the flowers of the pookkalam are not thrown out with the rubbish: the clay goes into the water or back to the garden earth, and the flowers with it.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Kerala only. Some families keep four Onam days through Chathayam, and the count varies from house to house, so traditions vary on when Onam ends.
In other regions
- Kerala (the dates above)
- Kerala only, and the count of Onam days varies from house to house: some end with Avittam, others keep Chathayam as the Nalam Onam, the fourth day of the pulikali, and the state's own celebrations close later in the week.
The dates above are the Kerala reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Where this day is kept
Nearest first from Chennai, with what is recorded about each.
- Ernakulam, Kerala
The entry for this day names Thrikkakara, and it is a temple of Mahabali. the Aranmula boat race and the Thrikkakara temple festival fall on these days.
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
Read more Show less
A temple is listed here only where the gazetteer's own line names this day, or where this day's own entry names the town, or where the day belongs to the ancestors or the nagas and the temple is recorded for that rite. Where neither table says anything, nothing is listed as kept for the day; where fewer than three are, the nearest temples of the day's own gods are added under a heading of their own.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
Read more Show less
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.