Glossary · concept
Purnima
Also written the full moon · Pournami
Purnima is the full moon: the night the moon stands directly opposite the sun and shows its whole lit face. It is the fifteenth and final tithi of the bright paksha (waxing fortnight).
Several major festivals fall on Purnimas — Holi, Guru Purnima, Hanuman Jayanti, Raksha Bandhan — and even when no festival accompanies it, the full moon is widely kept for vrat (fasting and observance), charity, and reflection. There is one Purnima per lunar month, twelve a year (thirteen in an Adhik Maas year).
Its dark twin is Amavasya, the new moon.
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