Thai Poosam · Thaipusam Festival Poosam nakshatra in Thai, the day Parvati gave Murugan the vel with which he killed Surapadman.
The name
The same day, written in each of the six scripts this app keeps
- English
- Thai Poosam · Thaipusam
- தமிழ்
- தைப்பூசம்
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
Poosam nakshatra in Thai, the day Parvati gave Murugan the vel with which he killed Surapadman. Devotees walk to Palani and the other hill temples carrying kavadi and pots of milk, many with the mouth and the skin pierced by a small vel, having kept a vow for weeks beforehand. It is the largest Murugan day of the year and, outside India, the great Tamil festival of Malaysia and Singapore.
- Deity
- Murugan, Parvati
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
The hour
The rule in words
Poosam and the Pournami of Thai together: the day whose sunrise the Pournami holds and on which Poosam also runs is taken, and failing that the day the star holds the sunrise. In 2024 Poosam began at 08:17 on 25 January, so the star held the sunrise of the 26th, but the 25th was the Pournami and both the almanacs and the Tamil Nadu holiday list kept Thai Poosam on the 25th. The abhishekam runs through the day and night.
The fast
Those who carry kavadi keep a fast of forty-eight days or more beforehand: one meal a day, no meat, no alcohol, sleeping on the floor. Milk, honey and panchamirtham are the offering.
Where the regions differ
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore and Mauritius keep it; the Telugu and Kannada calendars mark the same star only as a monthly Poosam day.
Fixing a day for it
The muhurtham rules that go with this festival
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.
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.