Hartalika 2027: the fast of Parvati, the day before Ganpati
Hartalika Tritiya, the third day of the bright half of Bhadrapada, is a fast women keep for Parvati and Shiva. It falls the day before Ganesh Chaturthi, and in Maharashtra it opens the festival season.
When it falls next
Hartalika Tritiya in each region
What Hartalika is
The tradition tells that Parvati wished to marry Shiva, and when her father promised her to Vishnu, her friends carried her away into the forest, where she kept a fast and worshipped a sand linga until Shiva accepted her. The name joins "harat", carried away, and "alika", a friend.
Married women keep the fast for their husband's long life and their household's well-being, and young women for a husband of their own choosing, as Parvati did, in the tradition's words.
It is one of the women's vrats of the rainy months, after Mangala Gaur, which brides in Maharashtra keep on the Tuesdays of Shravan in their first years of marriage.
How families keep it at home
Many keep a strict fast through the day and night, some without water, and open it the next morning.
Small images of Parvati, her friend and a Shivling are made of clay or sand, or bought, and set on a decorated stand. They are worshipped with flowers, bel and other leaves of the season, and sixteen offerings.
Women gather to hear the story of the day read aloud, and many stay awake through the night with songs. The images are immersed the next day, as Ganpati arrives.
Married women wear green bangles and new clothes for the puja, and the fast is opened the next morning with the fruit and sweets offered the day before.
How it differs by region
In Maharashtra Hartalika is kept by women of every age, the day before Ganesh Chaturthi.
In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar it is Hartalika Teej, one of the Teej festivals of the rains, with green clothes, swings and songs.
In Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh the same day is kept as Gowri Habba or Gowri puja, before Ganesh Chaturthi.
How its date is set
Hartalika is the tritiya of the bright half of Bhadrapada, kept on the day the tritiya holds at sunrise, the day before the chaturthi of Ganesh.
Read the Shiva aarti and the Ganesh aarti, for the next day.