Karva Chauth Vratam The fourth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika in the purnimanta reckoning, kept by married women of the north and west for their husbands' long life.

English

Karva Chauth

ਪੰਜਾਬੀ

ਕਰਵਾ ਚੌਥ

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.

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.

The fourth day of the dark fortnight of Kartika in the purnimanta reckoning, kept by married women of the north and west for their husbands' long life. The sargi, a meal sent by the mother-in-law, is eaten before dawn; the day is passed without food or water; at night the moon is looked at through a sieve, then the husband, and he gives the first sip of water.

Deity

Gauri, Shiva, Chandra, Karwa Mata

Kind

Vratam Days kept by a fast or a vow, most of them coming round every lunar month.

The Chaturthi running at the evening moonrise, which is computed for the place; the fast is broken when the moon is seen through the sieve.

Nothing at all from before sunrise until the moon is seen, water included, in the strict form. The fast is broken with water and a sweet from the husband's hand.

Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh keep it; the Telugu counterpart is Atla Taddi a fortnight earlier, and the far south keeps neither. The Punjab keeps the sargi sent down by the mother-in-law before dawn and the baya sent back to her, and the women sit in a ring passing the karva from hand to hand while the story is told.

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.