Karkidaka Vavu Festival The new moon of Karkidakam, the largest day of ancestor offering in the Malayalam year.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Karkidaka Vavu
- മലയാളം
- കർക്കടക വാവ്
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 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.
The hour
The rule in words
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 fast
The one who offers bali fasts until it is finished and then eats a plain vegetarian meal without onion or garlic.
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.
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.