Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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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
- Monday, 2 August 2027
- Friday, 21 July 2028
- Thursday, 9 August 2029
Where Karkidaka Vavu falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 2 Aug
- 2028: 21 Jul, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 9 Aug, 18 days later
The dates, year by year
Kerala calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The new moon of Karkidakam, the largest day of ancestor offering in the Malayalam year. The bali tarpanam is offered on the riverbank and the seashore, at Thiruvallam, Aluva and Varkala above all, and the queues begin before dawn; rice balls, sesame and darbha are given to the departed and then set afloat.
- Deity
- Pitrus, Yama
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Vavu is the Malayalam word for the new moon, and the Karkidakam one is held to be the day the pitrus are nearest, since the Sun has turned south into the half of the year that is the night of the gods. Kerala keeps each person's annual shraddham on the nakshatra of the death in its month, so the Vavu is the one morning when all the departed of a family are remembered together, including those whose day has been forgotten. Sons and daughters alike offer the bali, and many who keep no other rite come to the water on this morning. The crow that comes to take the rice is taken as the ancestors' sign that the offering has been received.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Karkidaka Vavu: how it is kept
Keep ready
- darbha grass and a darbha ring (pavithram)
- black sesame (ellu)
- unakkalari (raw rice) for the pinda
- plantain leaf tips
- cherula, tulasi and white flowers
- sandal paste
- a kindi or small vessel of water
- a nilavilakku
- a white mundu
- dakshina for the karmi
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
The pinda is raw rice cooked with black sesame and shaped into balls, sometimes with a little ghee, honey or plantain as the karmi directs. The offerer eats only after the bali, a plain vegetarian meal of rice, a thoran and moru or sambar, with no onion or garlic, and a share is set out for the crows first. Temples offer the tilahavanam, the fire offering of sesame, for those who cannot go to the water; traditions vary on the rest of the day's food.
The hour
Clock times for Monday, 2 August 2027 at Chennai
The Amavasya reaching the aparahna, the fourth of the five parts of the day, and the first of the two days when it reaches the aparahna on both: the bali is offered that morning after the bath. In 2024 the Amavasya began at 15:50 on 3 August and Kerala kept the Vavu bali on the 3rd, where Tamil Nadu, reading the middle of the aparahna, kept Aadi Amavasai on the 4th.
The main rite. The Amavasya tithi at sunrise in Karkidakam. The bali is offered in the morning, after the bath and before noon, by one who has fasted since the day before.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Aparahna | 13:31 | the afternoon, three fifths of the daylight after sunrise |
Sunrise 05:55, sunset 18:36, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Krishna Amavasai from previous day 19:21 until 15:35 | then Shukla Prathamai until next day 11:52 |
| Nakshatra | Pushya until 17:10 | then Ashlesha until next day 14:17 |
| Rahu kaal | 07:30 to 09:05 (1 h 35 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 10:40 to 12:15 (1 h 35 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 13:50 to 15:26 (1 h 35 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:50 to 12:41 (0 h 51 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 05:33 | moonset 18:38 |
For Monday, 2 August 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
The one who offers bali fasts until it is finished and then eats a plain vegetarian meal without onion or garlic.
What is avoided
No greeting, no celebration and nothing new begun: the day belongs to the dead. The offerer eats no fish, meat, onion or garlic from the day before and nothing at all before the bali, and does not cut hair or nails that day.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Kerala's bali day answers to Aadi Amavasai in Tamil Nadu (the same new moon) and to Mahalaya Amavasya in the Telugu country, which falls two months later.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- Tamil Nadu keeps the same new moon as Aadi Amavasai, with tarpanam at Rameswaram, Kanyakumari and on the banks of the Kaveri, and the crow is fed before the family eats.
- Kerala (the dates above)
- The great bali day of Kerala: Aluva Manappuram on the Periyar, Thirunavaya on the Bharathapuzha, Thirunelli in Wayanad and the beaches at Varkala and Shanghumugham fill before dawn, and the temples take bookings for the tilahavanam.
- Sri Lanka
- The Tamils of Sri Lanka keep it as Aadi Amavasai, the day for departed fathers, and the springs of Keerimalai in Jaffna are crowded with those who bathe and offer there.
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.
- Wayanad, Kerala
The gazetteer line for this temple names the day. This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Karkidaka Vavu (Aadi Amavasai) is its great day.
- Kollumangudi, Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Visited where a family quarrel or a father’s displeasure is read into the chart, and on amavasai for the ancestors.
- Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Tula snanam through Aippasi, when lakhs bathe at the ghats, and amavasai tarpanam are what most come for.
- Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Amavasai tarpanam and Maha Sivaratri are its days
- Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Amavasai and Aadi Amavasai tarpanam on the nearby shore are what most come for.
- Erode, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrus, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Maha Sivaratri and amavasai tarpanam are its days.
26 more temples in this gazetteer are recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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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.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
- Pitru tarpanam sankalpam
- Devatabhyah Pitribhyashcha (to the ancestors)
A name without a link is a long reading, read in full from the family’s own copy or at the place of worship; the library prints the shorter prayers.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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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.