Karthigai Deepam (Vaishnava) 2028

Karthigai Deepam is one of the oldest festivals of Tamil Nadu and the wider Vaishnava tradition — a festival of lights observed on the full moon (Purnima) of the Tamil month of Karthikai, when the moon is united with the Krittika nakshatra. Rows of lamps (deepam) are lit in homes, temples and along streets at dusk, giving the festival its name.

The observance marks the close of a month-long period of daily lamp-lighting that begins on Deepavali and continues through Karthikai masam, culminating on the Purnima day itself. Temples hold special processions and light towering ceremonial lamps, while households light rows of clay lamps (agal vilakku) at the doorstep and courtyard as dusk falls.

Because the exact civil day on which Purnima and Krittika nakshatra are both cleanly present can shift from year to year — sometimes affected by the adjoining Chaturdashi or Bharani nakshatra 'bleeding' into the day, or by a solar transit or eclipse falling nearby — different Vaishnava traditions apply their own established rule hierarchy to determine the correct observance day for a given city and year. The date shown here follows that Vaishnava determination.