Shitala Satam Vratam The day Shitala Mata, the goddess of the cooling of fever and of the pox, is worshipped in Gujarat, and the one day of the year on which no fire is lit in the kitchen.

English

Shitala Satam

ગુજરાતી

શીતળા સાતમ

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.

1. Tuesday, 24 August 2027
2. Saturday, 12 August 2028
3. Friday, 31 August 2029

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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.

The day Shitala Mata, the goddess of the cooling of fever and of the pox, is worshipped in Gujarat, and the one day of the year on which no fire is lit in the kitchen. Everything is cooked the day before, on Randhan Chhath, and eaten cold on this morning; the hearth itself is washed, decorated and worshipped once it has gone out. Mothers keep the day for their children, because the goddess who sends the fever is the one who takes it away, and in many villages the women go to her shrine at the edge of the fields before dawn.

Deity

Shitala Mata

Kind

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

Shravan vad Satam, the tithi running at sunrise. The puja is at the shrine in the early morning and the cold meal is eaten through the day.

Sunrise 05:57, sunset 18:25, 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.

No food is cooked and no fire lit, so the whole day is eaten cold: the bajra rotla, thepla, kadhi and the sweets made the day before. Some women take only one cold meal.

Gujarat and Saurashtra keep it as Shitala Satam on Shravan vad Satam; the north keeps the same goddess on Shitala Ashtami in Chaitra, after Holi, and Bengal and Odisha keep her as Shitala with her own pujas, so the goddess is shared and the day is not.

The dates above are the Gujarat 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.

A temple visit, or the first darshan at a new temple. No weekday is ruled out: Tuesday belongs to Murugan and the Amman, Saturday to Perumal and Sani, so the day usually follows the deity rather than the almanac. Ashtami and Chaturdasi are the two tithis held back for darshan, with the standing exceptions of Sivaratri on Krishna Chaturdasi and Kala Bhairava Ashtami, which are kept on those very days. Rahu kaal, Yamaganda and Gulika kaal are not scored here; the panchangam page prints them for the day you pick, and most families simply wait them out.

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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.