01What Karwa Chauth is
Karwa Chauth is the Chaturthi of the dark half of Kartik, as North Indian calendars name the month, about eleven days before Diwali. Married women keep it as a fast from sunrise to moonrise for their husbands' wellbeing, as the tradition describes it, and it is kept above all in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. Karwa is the earthen pot with a spout used in the puja and given as a gift, and chauth is the fourth day. It is the Sankashti Chaturthi of its month, so Ganesha is worshipped along with Gauri and the Moon.
02The story told of it
The story told on the day is that of Veeravati, the only sister of seven brothers. On her first Karwa Chauth after her wedding she kept the fast at her parents' home, and as evening came on she grew faint with hunger and thirst. Her brothers could not bear to see it. They lit a fire behind the trees and held up a sieve so that its glow looked like the rising moon, and believing it, she broke her fast before the real moon had risen. The tradition tells the story for its lesson, repeated in every telling: the fast is complete only when the moon has truly risen, so wait for it.
03How it is kept
The day begins before dawn with sargi, a meal of fruit, sweets, sevaiyan and dry fruit sent by the mother-in-law and eaten before sunrise. After that the traditional fast takes neither food nor water until moonrise. Women dress as brides, apply mehendi, and gather in the late afternoon for the puja, passing their thalis around a circle while the katha is told, with the karwa filled with water before them. At moonrise each woman looks at the moon through a sieve, offers it water from the karwa, then looks at her husband, who gives her the first sip of water.
04How the day is chosen
Karwa Chauth is the Krishna Chaturthi of Kartik in North Indian calendars (Ashwin in amanta ones), kept on the day the Chaturthi is current at moonrise, because the fast ends when the moon is seen.
05Karwa Chauth in other years
