Thai Amavasai 2022

Thai Amavasai (தை அமாவாசை) is the new moon of the Tamil month Thai. With Aadi Amavasai and Mahalaya Amavasai it is one of the three great days of the year for tarpanam, the offering of sesame and water to the ancestors.

Families go to the sea and the sacred rivers: to the Agni Theertham at Rameswaram, to Kanyakumari where the three seas meet, to the Kaveri at Srirangam and Thiruvaiyaru, and to the temple tanks. Food is offered to the crows and given to the needy in the ancestors' name.

At Thirukadaiyur the day recalls Abhirami Bhattar: when he declared that this Amavasai was a full moon, the Goddess Abhirami threw her earring into the sky, and it shone as the full moon, while he sang the Abhirami Anthathi.