Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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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
Kerala calendar, computed for Chennai
- Sunday, 12 September 2027
- Thursday, 31 August 2028
- Tuesday, 21 August 2029
Where Uthradam · First Onam falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 12 Sep
- 2028: 31 Aug, 11 days earlier
- 2029: 21 Aug, 11 days earlier
The last days of Onam
Part of the same festival, in order, in the Kerala calendar
- Uthradam · First Onam(this page) …
- Thiruvonam · Onam …
- Avittam · Third Onam …
The dates, year by year
Kerala calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The eve of Thiruvonam, when Mahabali is held to arrive. It is the busiest shopping day of the Kerala year, the Uthradappachil, when the vegetables and the plantain leaves for the next day's sadya are bought and the pookkalam reaches its largest ring.
- Deity
- Mahabali, Vamana
- Kind
- Observance Days marked, watched or begun, without a fast or a feast of their own.
Significance
Uthradam is the Onnam Onam, the first of the Onam days proper, when the house is readied for the king who is said to arrive that night. In the old joint households the tenants brought the Onakkazhcha, gifts of vegetables, plantains and coconuts, to the tharavadu on this day and received their onakkodi in return. At Guruvayur devotees offer whole bunches of plantains, the Uthrada kazhchakkula, before the deity, and at Aranmula the Thiruvona thoni sets out on the river with the provisions for the next day's feast at the Parthasarathy temple. In many houses the clay Onathappan is set in the courtyard on this night so that he is in place when Thiruvonam dawns.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Uthradam · First Onam: how it is kept
Keep ready
- the flowers for the pookkalam
- plantains, coconuts and vegetables for the kazhcha
- oil for frying the upperi
- the onakkodi, new clothes for the household
- clay for the Onathappan
The steps
0 of 8 done
What is cooked
The upperi and sharkara varatti are fried and the pickles and inji puli made ahead of the feast, and many houses eat a smaller sadya at midday.
The hour
Clock times for Sunday, 12 September 2027 at Chennai
Uthradam nakshatra, the day before Thiruvonam in Chingam; the cooking and the buying take up the day.
The main rite. Uthradam nakshatra in Chingam, the day before Thiruvonam. The kazhcha is offered at the temples in the morning, the buying and the frying fill the day, and the Onathappan is set up at dusk or before the next dawn.
This day's rule names no hour of its own: it is fixed by the tithi or the nakshatra running at sunrise. The rule above is the whole of it, and the day's own times are below.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Dwadasi from previous day 19:37 until 22:13 | then Shukla Trayodasi until 2 days later, 00:40 |
| Nakshatra | Shravana until next day 06:05 | then Dhanishta until 2 days later, 08:59 |
| Rahu kaal | 16:41 to 18:13 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 12:05 to 13:37 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 15:09 to 16:41 (1 h 32 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:41 to 12:30 (0 h 49 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 15:54 | moonset next day 03:42 |
For Sunday, 12 September 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. The first small sadya of the season is often eaten on this day.
What is avoided
No fast is kept. Houses that keep the Onam kitchen strictly cook no fish or meat from this day through Thiruvonam, and the pookkalam is not stepped on or disturbed.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Kerala only; the neighbouring Tamil districts that keep Onam follow the same two days.
In other regions
- Tamil Nadu
- The Tamil districts on the Kerala border, Kanyakumari above all, keep the day with the same buying, the same frying and the same pookkalam.
- Kerala (the dates above)
- The Uthradappachil, the rush of the day, is the same all over Kerala. In north Malabar the Onappottan, a silent figure in a painted mask with a bell and a palm-leaf umbrella, goes from door to door on Uthradam and Thiruvonam to bless the houses.
The dates above are the Kerala 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.
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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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.