Laxmi Puja · Gai Tihar Festival The new moon of the dark fortnight of Kartika, the night Rama came back to Ayodhya and the night Lakshmi is welcomed into a lit house.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Laxmi Puja · Gai Tihar
- नेपाली
- लक्ष्मी पूजा · गाई तिहार
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 the dark fortnight of Kartika, the night Rama came back to Ayodhya and the night Lakshmi is welcomed into a lit house. Every door and parapet is lined with lamps, the doorway is left open, the house is swept and new, the account books of the trading year are closed and opened, and the crackers run until late.
- Deity
- Lakshmi, Ganesha, Kubera, Rama
- 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 prevailing at pradosha, the two hours and twenty-four minutes after sunset, because the Lakshmi puja is done that evening. This is why Diwali can fall the day before the Amavasya that holds the sunrise.
The fast
No fast is required for the Lakshmi puja; some keep the day light and eat after it. Sweets are made and given away, and the first lamp is lit at the tulsi or the threshold.
Where the regions differ
The north keeps five days from Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj; Tamil Nadu keeps the Naraka Chaturdasi morning as Deepavali and the Lakshmi puja the next evening; Bengal keeps the same night as Kali Puja; Gujarat begins its Vikram Samvat year the day after. Nepal keeps the cow in the morning as Gai Tihar and Lakshmi in the evening, with a panti of small oil lamps drawn up the doorway and along the wall to lead her in, and the deusi and bhailo singers going from house to house through the night.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
The Satyanarayana vratam and katha at home. Pournami is the day of the vratam and Ekadasi the next best; Kartika Pournami, Vaishakha Pournami and the Sankranti days are the ones most families choose. Thursday, the day of Guru, comes first among the weekdays, and Tuesday is the one usually passed over. The puja is done in the evening and the prasadam shared after the katha, so no lagna window is computed here.
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.