What Is Amavasya? Meaning, Rituals and All Amavasya Dates 2026–27

Amavasya is the new moon day: the 30th and last tithi of the lunar month, when the Moon sits in line with the Sun and disappears from the night sky. It closes the dark fortnight (Krishna Paksha). In Hindu tradition it is above all the day of the ancestors (pitru), when families offer water and sesame in their memory, give in charity, and light lamps against the dark. The next Amavasya is Monday, 9 November 2026, a Somvati Amavasya.

Amavasya dates, November 2026 – September 2027

By the tithi at sunrise, New Delhi. Month names follow the North Indian (Purnimanta) calendar.

When Amavasya begins in the morning, the evening rituals (like Diwali) fall on that day while the sunrise tithi moves to the next. Check your city on our panchang.

What happens on Amavasya, astronomically

Each month the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun. At that moment, its lit side faces away from us and the night is moonless. The tithi system divides the Moon’s journey into 30 parts by the angle between the Sun and the Moon; Amavasya is the last of them, ending at the exact new moon. The next day, Shukla Pratipada, the bright fortnight begins.

Why Amavasya is the day for ancestors

The Garuda Purana and other texts teach that the ancestors (pitru) are especially close on Amavasya and receive what is offered to them. So it is the monthly day for tarpan, offering water with black sesame (til) and kusha grass, facing south, and for feeding Brahmins, cows and crows in their name. The greatest of these days is Mahalaya Amavasya, which ends the fortnight of Pitru Paksha; families who do not know an ancestor’s death date perform shraddha for all of them then.

The special Amavasyas

• Somvati Amavasya (Monday): a holy dip in the Ganga; married women walk around the peepal tree 108 times praying for their husbands.
• Shani Amavasya (Saturday): oil, black sesame and a lamp offered to Shani Dev to ease his difficulties.
• Mauni Amavasya (Magha): a day of silence (maun) and the great bath at the Sangam in Prayagraj during the Magh Mela.
• Hariyali Amavasya (Shravana): tree planting and Shiva worship in the green monsoon.
• Diwali Amavasya (Kartik): the darkest night lit by lamps; Lakshmi Puja is in its evening. See the Diwali Lakshmi Puja muhurat.

What to do, and what is traditionally avoided

Do: tarpan for your ancestors; donate food, clothes or sesame; feed animals and birds; light a diya under a peepal tree or at your door in the evening; read the Gita or chant quietly.

Traditionally avoided: starting new ventures, buying a house or vehicle, weddings and other auspicious beginnings; cutting hair or nails; non-vegetarian food and alcohol. Families differ; follow your own tradition.

Amavasya and the Moon’s cycle

Amavasya’s opposite is Purnima, the full moon of Sharad Purnima and Kartik Purnima. Between them fall the two Ekadashis and the Pradosh fasts of every month.

Sources: Garuda Purana and Dharmasindhu on shraddha and Amavasya; dates computed by World of Hindus for New Delhi. Image: “A Burning Diya” by Lalturadipur, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.