Moon photography and some facts about Hindu Lunar calendar

4 comments

preets176.933 years ago3 min read

Hi everyone
My greetings to you all
Hope you are doing well

It's generally the mid of December, that weather start getting really cold. Since last evening, freezing air has been blowing with a high velocity. And so temperature has gone down on the scale. So I tried to keep my daughter at home only, I fear she may get ill due to lower temperatures outside. Instead of taking her to the playground today, I took her to the upstairs for a ten minutes. There she kept riding her tricycle. When I was on the terrace, I had a sight of moon and it looked beautiful. So I tried to click a few pictures of it.

The date (Tithi) in Hindu Calendar today. And the concept of Shukla Paksha and Krishna Paksha

Today This is the Shukla Paksha, Chaturdashi tithi of Margshirsha month of Hindu Calendar. Here Shukla Paksha is the fortnight of brightening moon (the waxing phase). Chaturdashi means the Fourteenth day. And Margshirsha is the name of month and it is the 9th month in the Hindu calendar.

Tomorrow it will be full moon night of Margshirsha month. That is called Purnima in Hindu calendar.
After the day of Purnima, Krishna Paksha will begin (the fortnight of fading moon) it is the waning phase of moon. Krishna Paksha culminates into the day of Amavasya (New moon night).

The day of Amavasya is dedicated to remembering your forefathers (called Pitras here). On this day, generally after taking bath some special food is prepared and ancestors are remembered.

Around 30-40 years ago, they keep to remember all the important events according to days and phases of the moon. Like my mother remembered my birthday not according to Gregorian calendar but according to Hindu calendar. She used to tell me, still she tells the same if I ask when i was born. She will say, Amavasya of Bhadrapda. 😄😄 Bhadrapada is another month in Hindu calendar.

Difference between Gregorian Calendar and Hindu Lunar Calendar

So you see, dates (tithis) of Hindu calendar are not fixed. They keep changing each year according to the solar and lunar phases. So if I celebrate my birthday according to Hindu calendar, it will not be on the same date, it will be on different dates each year.
That is the reason, festivals in India never comes on a fixed date. Like Christmas comes on 25th December each year. They keep changing, their dates are decided by astronomical calculations.
That is the main difference in between both the calendars.