Kaw Punim Festival The Magha full moon, kept by calling the crow to the roof and feeding it.
Kaw Punim 2027 falls on Saturday, 20 February, computed for Chennai.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
- English
- Kaw Punim
- कॉशुर
- काव पूनिम
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.
Asia/Kolkata · 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
Kashmir calendar, computed for Chennai
- Saturday, 20 February 2027
- Thursday, 10 February 2028
- Tuesday, 30 January 2029
Where Kaw Punim falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 20 Feb
- 2028: 10 Feb
- 2029: 30 Jan
The dates, year by year
Kashmir calendar, computed for Chennai
| Year | Kaw Punim |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Wednesday, 12 February 2025 |
| 2026 | Sunday, 1 February 2026 |
| 2027 | Saturday, 20 February 2027 |
| 2028 | Thursday, 10 February 2028 |
| 2029 | Tuesday, 30 January 2029 |
| 2030 | Monday, 18 February 2030 |
| 2031 | Friday, 7 February 2031 |
| 2032 | Thursday, 26 February 2032 |
| 2033 | Monday, 14 February 2033 |
| 2034 | Friday, 3 February 2034 |
| 2035 | Thursday, 22 February 2035 |
| 2036 | Monday, 11 February 2036 |
Worked out for Chennai, Lahiri ayanamsa. A date is a function of the place: set yours above and the next three come back for where you are.
What the day is
The Magha full moon, kept by calling the crow to the roof and feeding it. A cone of birch bark or of grass is made, filled with cooked rice and a little of whatever else the house has eaten, fixed to a long stick and held up from the roof or the window while the children call kaawa kaawa, come and take the year's share. The crow is the messenger of the ancestors and of the year itself, and what it carries off is held to be carried away for good. Kaw is the crow and punim the full moon, and the day belongs to the children of the house more than to anyone else.
- Deity
- Chandra, Pitrs
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
Clock times for Saturday, 20 February 2027 at Chennai
Maagh Purnima at sunrise, the full moon that closes the purnimanta Magha; the crow is called at first light.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunrise | 06:30 | the udaya tithi, the tithi running as the sun comes up |
Sunrise 06:30, sunset 18:16, 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 fast
No fast is kept. Rice with a little salt and oil is what the cone is filled with, and the family eats the rest of it after the crow has come.
Where the regions differ
Kashmiri Pandits keep it as Kaw Punim; the Magha full moon is kept elsewhere as Maghi Purnima, a bathing day, with nothing of the crow in it.
The dates above are the Kashmir 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.
- Kollumangudi, Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu
This day is kept for Pitrs, 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 Pitrs, 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 Pitrs, 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 Pitrs, 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 Pitrs, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Maha Sivaratri and amavasai tarpanam are its days.
- Jaffna, Northern Province, Sri Lanka
This day is kept for Pitrs, and the gazetteer keeps this temple for Pitru and ancestors. Aadi Amavasai tarpanam at Keerimalai is the largest ancestor rite in the north of the island.
26 more temples in this gazetteer are recorded for the day. Find temples near you.
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. Your family's own temple comes first, and its calendar is the one that decides.
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.