Diwali 2025 Amavasya overlap shapes Lakshmi Puja on Oct 20

Diwali celebrations this year are set to begin on October 18 and run through October 23, but the precise timing of the festival’s central rituals has sparked confusion because the Amavasya Tithi, the new moon day on which Lakshmi Puja and the main Diwali night fall, stretches across two calendar days. The Amavasya Tithi begins at 3:44 p.m. on October 20 and ends at 5:54 p.m. on October 21, yet most Hindu lunar-calendar calculations and local traditions place the principal Diwali observances, including Lakshmi Puja, on the evening of Monday, October 20, 2025.

The overlap of the Amavasya Tithi is the technical reason for uncertainty. Diwali is observed on the Amavasya of Kartik month, and when that tithi runs through two civil days, communities and priests consult panchang or astrological calendars to determine the most auspicious timing for rituals. In 2025, those calculations commonly identify the Pradosh period, the evening interval after sunset, as the appropriate window for worship. The Pradosh period is expected to begin in most places around 5:46 to 5:51 p.m. and end around 8:18 to 8:19 p.m. on October 20, making the evening hours of that date the preferred time for...