Amavasya: Dates, What, Why, How

What it is

Amavasya is the new-moon day, the last tithi of the dark half of the lunar month, when the sun and the moon stand together and the moon cannot be seen. In many families it is a day to remember the ancestors (pitri) with tarpan, an offering of water with sesame, and with food given in their name. It is also a day for an early bath, in a river if one is near, for gifts to people in need, and for a quiet lamp at home or under a pipal tree.

Some Amavasyas have their own names. An Amavasya on a Monday is Somavati Amavasya, kept with the worship of the pipal tree; in many homes married women also fast and pray to Shiva for their husbands' well-being. The Amavasya of Magha is Mauni Amavasya, a day of silence and river bathing. The Amavasya of Kartika is Diwali night, and the Amavasya at the end of Pitru Paksha is Sarva Pitru Amavasya, for all the ancestors. Diwali and Pitru Paksha have their own guides. These month names follow the purnimanta calendar of North India; in the amanta calendar the Magha and Kartika new moons are called the Amavasyas of Pausha and Ashvina.

Why it is kept

The day of the ancestors. In the old household rites, the new moon (darsha) and the full moon were the two great days of the fortnight. Sir Monier Monier-Williams (1891) describes how, at every new moon and full moon, the head of the family set his work aside and, with his wife, made the offering of the fortnight. The monthly offering to the ancestors, darsha shraddha, is made on the new moon in the afternoon (aparahna), and this is why Pujadeep's date follows the afternoon.

Somavati Amavasya. B. A. Gupte's Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials (1916) gives the story that families read on a Monday new moon. After the great war, Yudhishthira grieves for his family and asks Bhishma how the line can continue. Bhishma tells him of the Monday new-moon vow: worship Vishnu at a pipal tree, offer 108 fruits or coins, and walk round the tree 108 times. Then he tells the story of Soma, a washerwoman known for keeping this vow. She gave away the merit of her worship to save a young bride's husband, and lost her own family. When the next Monday new moon came, she bathed in the river, worshipped the pipal tree and walked round it 108 times, and her family was given back to her. The story says this is the power of the vow; that is the story's own claim, told here as its claim. Families keep the custom as a day of care for one another and for the pipal tree, which Gupte notes is held to be the home of Vishnu.

Silence and rest. On Mauni Amavasya many keep silence for the day and bathe in a river, and on any Amavasya many families keep the day simple: a bath, a lamp, a gift, and a thought for those who came before them.

The texts behind the story

• Brâhmanism and Hindûism; or, Religious Thought and Life in India, by Sir Monier Monier-Williams, fourth edition (New York: Macmillan, 1891) (p. 367 (leaf n402): the fortnightly offering of the household at every new moon (darsa) and full moon (paurnamasa))
• Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials, with dissertations on origin, folklore and symbols, by B. A. Gupte (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1916) ("Amavasya", p. 6 (leaf n61); "Somavati" (the Monday new moon), pp. 144–149 (leaves n199–n204): Bhishma's account of the vow, the pipal tree, 108 rounds, and the story of Soma)

When it is kept

Amavasya is kept on the day on which the Amavasya tithi is present during aparahna, the afternoon part of the day at your location, because that is the time for darsha shraddha and tarpan. If Amavasya is present in the afternoon of two days, the day with more of it is taken; if on neither, the day whose sunrise has Amavasya. Bathing and charity (snana-dana) follow the day on which Amavasya is present at sunrise, so when the two days differ Pujadeep shows both. This is the rule the Pujadeep calendar uses, after the Dharmasindhu's rule for darsha shraddha. An Amavasya that falls on a Monday is Somavati Amavasya; check the weekday of the date shown.

What the words mean: Purnima and Amavasya · Tithi · Pratahkala, madhyahna and aparahna

Traditions and regional customs

• Darsha shraddha and tarpan: Amavasya in aparahna; the day with more of it when both
• Bathing and charity (snana-dana): Amavasya at sunrise, shown as a second date when it differs
• Somavati (Monday) Amavasya: pipal worship and 108 rounds (Gupte 1916)
• Mauni Amavasya in Magha: silence and river bathing

Why the day can differ

The afternoon and the sunrise are local, so the day can differ between cities, and a city abroad can keep it a day before or after India. In the amanta calendar the month ends on Amavasya; in the purnimanta calendar Amavasya falls in the middle of the month, so the same Amavasya can carry two month names. Families who keep a fast or snana-dana on the sunrise day follow the second date.

How to keep it at home

1. In the morning, bathe; if you can, bathe in a river or add a little Ganga water to your bath. Give food, clothes or money to someone in need, or to a temple kitchen or food bank.
2. In the afternoon, families who offer tarpan face south, hold water with black sesame and a blade of kusha grass, and pour it out slowly while they name their ancestors. A family priest can guide the words; many families simply say each name with respect.
3. Set aside a portion of food for a cow, for crows and birds, or for a person in need, in the ancestors' name.
4. In the evening, light a lamp at home, or under a pipal tree if there is one nearby. On a Somavati Amavasya many women worship the pipal tree with water, thread and flowers and walk round it, often 108 times.

Fasting

Fasting on Amavasya is a family custom, not a rule for everyone. Some keep a fast until the afternoon offering, some eat one simple meal, and many keep no fast. Anyone who is pregnant, nursing, diabetic, unwell, elderly or on regular medicine should talk to a doctor before fasting.

Food

Simple vegetarian food, often without onion and garlic; kheer, puri and a vegetable are common when food is offered in the ancestors' name.

For children

On the night of the new moon the sky is dark, because the moon is close to the sun and its bright side is turned away from us. Soon it will start to grow again. On this day many families think of their grandparents and great-grandparents, the people who came before them. They light a lamp, give food to birds and to people who need it, and say the names of the elders with love.

Something to do together

Ask a grandparent or parent to tell you the names of your great-grandparents. Draw a small family tree together, and put out a bowl of grain or water for the birds.

Festivals and holy days, told for children

Sources

• Pujadeep calendar rule amavasya (aparahna, the day with more of it when both, after the Dharmasindhu) and its sunrise-day alternative for snana-dana.
• Hindu Holidays and Ceremonials, with dissertations on origin, folklore and symbols, by B. A. Gupte (Calcutta: Thacker, Spink, 1916) (p. 6 (leaf n61); pp. 144–149 (leaves n199–n204))
• Brâhmanism and Hindûism; or, Religious Thought and Life in India, by Sir Monier Monier-Williams, fourth edition (New York: Macmillan, 1891) (p. 367 (leaf n402))

Related guides

• Pitru Paksha (Shraddh)
• Diwali (Deepavali)
• Purnima Vrat (Full Moon Fast)