Thai Amavasai Festival The new moon of Thai, the second of the three tarpanam days of the Tamil year.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Thai Amavasai
- தமிழ்
- தை அமாவாசை
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 Thai, the second of the three tarpanam days of the Tamil year. It falls in Uttarayana, which is held to make the offering to the ancestors more fruitful, and Rameswaram, Thirunallar, the Kaveri ghats and the sea at Chennai fill with families doing the rite.
- Deity
- Pitrus, Surya
- 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 Amavasai tithi in the afternoon, the aparahna; the sea or river bath comes first.
The fast
The one who offers tarpanam fasts until the rite is over and then eats one plain meal.
Where the regions differ
The north keeps the corresponding Magha new moon as Mauni Amavasya, the day of silence and the bath at the Sangam; Kerala's great bali day is Karkidaka Vavu in July instead.
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.