The festival falls in the eighth month of the Tamil solar calendar, usually correlating with November or December in the Gregorian calendar. It is considered one of the most auspicious months for Shiva devotees and Vishnu devotees alike.
The most sacred day for lighting the deepam is the full moon night of Karthika masa. In 2024, for example, Karthika Deepam was observed on November 15th. The festival spans the entire month, but the pinnacle is the evening of the full moon, when the moon rises large and bright, and the sky is at its clearest after the retreat of the monsoon. when is karthika deepam
In 2026, the main Karthigai Deepam festival falls on . The festival falls in the eighth month of
Karthika Deepam (also known as ) is an ancient Hindu festival of lights celebrated primarily by Tamil and Malayali Hindus. It occurs when the Kṛttikā (Karthigai) Nakshatra aligns with the full moon ( Pournami ) in the Tamil month of Karthigai . When is Karthika Deepam 2026? In 2024, for example, Karthika Deepam was observed
Astronomically, the festival occurs when the moon is near the star cluster known as the Pleiades (Krittika in Sanskrit, Karthigai in Tamil). Mythologically, these six stars are the six celestial nymphs who raised Lord Murugan (Kartikeya). Thus, the festival also celebrates the unity and nurturing nature of the divine.
In many villages, youngsters create a traditional firework called "Maavali," made from burnt palm flowers, which they spin around to create a spectacular shower of sparks.
Brahma took the form of a swan and flew upwards, while Vishnu became a boar and dived deep into the earth. Neither could find the end. Finally, Lord Shiva emerged from the pillar, revealing that he was the ultimate reality, the beginning and the end of all existence. The is a symbolic re-enactment of that primordial pillar of light. It is lit precisely at the time when the moon is full and the constellation Krittika (the six stars associated with the six mothers who raised the war-god Kartikeya, Shiva’s son) is dominant, creating an astrological alignment considered supremely auspicious for realizing the formless divine.
