Aadi Month Festivals and Pooja

 August 16. 2023 (Today) is the Last Day of Aadi Month.

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Aadi month(July 16th – August 16th) is the 4th month of the Tamil Calender. The next six months from Aadi to Margazhi is the Dakshinayana punyakalam. It marks the beginning of the night of Devas. Traditionally, Aadi month is considered as inauspicious and most people avoid auspicious ceremonies during this period. But few important festivals are celebrated in this month.

This month is special for Goddess Shakthi. People worship Goddess and her different forms during this month to get her blessings for their wealth and happiness.

Auspicious days in Aadi Month:

Date	Festival Name
17-Jul-2023	Aadi Pirappu (1st day of Aadi Month)
17-Jul-2023	Aadi ammavasai
18-Jul-2023	Aadi Chevvai (1st Tuesday of Aadi Month)
21-Jul-2023	Aadi Velli (1st Friday of Aadi Month)
22-Jul-2023	Aadi Pooram
28-Jul-2022	Aadi Ammavasai (New moon day of Aadi Month)
28-Jul-2023	Aadi Velli (2nd Friday of Aadi Month)
04-Aug-2023	Aadi Velli (3rd Friday of Aadi Month)
03-Aug-2023	Aadi Perukku
09-Aug-2023	Aadi Krithigai
25-Aug-2023	Varalakshmi Vratham
1-Sep-2023	Yajur Upakarma (Avani Avittam)

Aadi Pirappu: 

First day of this month Aadi, usually it falls on 16th or 17th of July. In 2022, it is on 17th July. People celebrate this day as Aadi pandigai especially newly-weds. Special puja is performed followed by a special food which includes delicous “Payasam(Kheer) with coconut milk“, “Purana Poli” and Vadai. The new groom in the family is invited to the Brides house and the couple is gifted with new dresses and other presents and treated well with a feast.

Aadi Velli (5 Friday’s of Aadi Month):

Aadi Velli refers to the divine Fridays that occur during the Tamil month of Aadi which falls from July 17th to August 14th. There are totally four Fridays in the month of Aadi, all of which are sacred days to unite with the Goddess power or the divine feminine Shakti.

Image Credit : AstroVed

1. The 1st Friday of Aadi month is dedicated to Goddess Swarnambika, a form of Goddess Parvati.
2. The 2nd Friday of Aadi month is dedicated to Goddess Kali, Offering your Prayers to the Goddess of Siddhi powers will bless you with Extraordinary Intelligence.
3. The 3rd Friday is dedicated to Kalikambal, a form of Goddess Parvati, who bestows us with courage and health.
4. The 4th Friday is dedicated to Kamakshi Amman, a form of Goddess Shakti. It is considered that offering special prayers on this day to Her will remove the obstacles in marriage, relationships, etc and will help us to be successful in life.
5. The last Aadi Friday is dedicated to Lakshmi, the consort of Lord Vishnu and Varalakshmi Pooja will be observed on this day. This is a special day for all women. On this day, Goddess Lakshmi listens and fulfills the needs and desires of women, who earnestly pray to Her. It is said that if a woman earnestly prays to the Goddess on this day, she will invoke the blessings of Goddess for her entire family.

Many rituals are performed on Aadi Fridays and Tuesdays even on Sundays

Aadi Chevvai (4 Tuesday’s of Aadi month):

Like Aadi Velli (Friday’s in Aadi month), Aadi Chevvai (Tuesday’s in Aadi month) is also so auspicious. many women keep fasting, chant all Devi slokas and pray to Goddess Parvati. There is a special fasting they call it as “Ovvai Nonbu“. Kozhukattai made with rice flour and jaggery is a Prasad prepared for this nonbu. Temples decorate the idols of Goddess Parvati in different forms like Durga, Chamundeswari and many other forms of Devi. In some homes there is a tradition to make Manjal Pongal and Thalagam and serve to Kanya girls considering them as Goddess Devi.

Aadi Ammavasai:

No moon day in Aadi month is very special to offer Tarpan to our Ancestors. This year is on 20 July 2020. Aadi amavasai is one of the three most powerful new moon days to offer Pitru Tarpanam (ancestral rituals) to honor your ancestors and receive their eternal blessings. As per our tradition, we have a custom to perform Tarpan (ancestral rituals) every month on the new moon day. But some of us miss to do the tarpan every month due to their personal reasons. Even though we miss the monthly tarpan, we should never miss doing tarpanam on Aadi Ammavasai, Thai Ammavasai and Malaya Ammavasai.

There is a belief that on Aadi Ammavasai, our ancestors start from their spirit world to travel and come to our world to see us. Their journey continues and they reach our world on Malaya Ammavasai and on Thai Ammavasai, they again travel back to their spirit world. Thats the reason all these 3 Ammavasai are considered to be most auspicious and its mandatory to do tarpanam. Rameshwaram is considered to be the most auspicious place to do tarpanam on aadi ammavasai. Many people travel to Rameshwaram, take bath on the holy river and perform tharpanam on the banks of the holy river.

Aadi Pooram:

 

Image Credit – Cycle Pure Agarbathies

Aadi Pooram is the celebration of the birthday of Andal. Andal herself is considered as the form of Goddess Shakti as it is believed that the goddess herself comes to Earth in this auspicious day to bless Her devotees. Goddess Andal and her devotion to Lord Ranganthar is known to all of us. Hence, Aadi Pooram is celebrated so grandly in almost all the Vishnu Temples in Tamilnadu. Likewise, this day, also holds immense importance in Goddess Shakti temples all over the country. Glass bangles are offered to Goddess and then distributed among the devotees. On this auspicious day, devotees chant Thirupavai and Lalitha Sahasaranamam.

Aadiperukku:

Image Credit : Dinamalar

Tamil Month Aadi, marks the beginning of monsoon in TamilNadu. During this month, water levels in the rivers increases due to monsoon. To show our gratitude to the nature and to thank Mother Cauvery river, we celebrate Aadiperukku. Adiperukku is a unique South Indian and specially a Tamil state festival celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Aadi.The 18th day of Aadi month is celebrated as Aadi perukku. Aadiperukku is a festival of fertility and people of Tamil Nadu especially women offer prayers. They wear new clothes and perform abhishekham for Kaveri amman.

Aadi Karthigai:

 

Aadi Karthigai  – Festival dedicated to Lord Muruga. The month Aadi is full of many festivals and auspicious days. One such day is Aadi Krithigai which is dedicated to Lord Muruga. All tamil caldender month has krithigai nakshatra and special puja will be help in all temples. Aadi month marks the beginning of the southward (Dakshianayana) journey of the sun. The Skanda Purana describes the legend associated with Aadi Karthigai.

Varalakshmi Vratham:

Varalakshmi Vratham– Festival dedicated to Godess Varalakshmi. This Pooja is celebrated on the friday, before the full moon day, in the Tamil Month Sravana (July-August). Goddess Varalakshmi is yet another form of Lord Vishnu’s consort, Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. This Pooja can be performed any woman with no restriction of caste or creed. The legend of Varalakshmi Vratham is that Goddess Varalakshmi appeared in a woman devotee named Charumathi’s dream and expressed her satisfaction in the woman’s devotion towards the Goddess.

Avani Avittam :

Aavani Avittam – an auspicious day for Brahmin boys and men to change their sacred thread. Avani Avittam is a most important ritual for Brahmins. It is a ceremony of changing the sacred thread (poonal). I have been told by my father that the right name for this ritual is Upakarma and over a period of time it gets a name “Avani Avittam”. It has been observed on different date by different brahmin communities.

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