Ashadha Amavasya or Amavasai is observed during the Ashadha month in the Hindu calendar, which normally falls on the new moon day. In 2024, this feast is celebrated on July 5 and it is Friday. Ashadha Amavasya is specifically the death and mourning day to pay homage to ancestors through several other pujas and other religious customs coming from the roots of Hinduism.
The guests, males usually stay awake the whole night and take ceremonial baths in the early morning of the Amavasya to wash the body and soul. It signifies the pattern of coming and going of life and stresses the factor of honouring and paying tribute to ancestors. These are practices that they use to show respect to their ancestors together with gods hoping to be blessed, which are religious practices to remind the spirits of the living.
Among all the rituals carried out in the Ashadha Amavasya, Deepa Puja is one of the essential rituals. In this process, they clean, colour and light attractive and eye-catching diyas (lamps) all over the house. A Chaurang (table) has been placed with decorated and is decorated with traditional Rangoli (Kolam) designs. Generally, several diyas are kept on the table during the Puja ceremony for lighting during the night. This rite is performed in the sanctum sanctorum of a temple and is dedicated to the Panch Maha Bhoot or the five basic elements- Air, Water, Fire, Sky and Earth. Deepa Puja helps devotees worship these essentials of life through this act to show their respect and recognize their needs.
Besides Deepa puja, some devotees pray to Lakshmi Devi, Parvati Devi or Mata Saraswati. These are gods which people worship for or with the assistance of their favors in wealth, knowledge and power. People throng to worship them on the occasion of Dasara, on Ashadha Amavasya and it is believed that such worship of the statues brings in all the requisite spiritual and material benefits to steer the life of the devotees with abundance and grace.
Ashadha Amavasya is a very significant ceremony to rekindle the faith of the people toward their tradition and religion as well as their recognition of the relations between the living and the dead.
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