Vriddhi Tithi extends Navratri 2025 adding an extra day

Sharad Navratri 2025, the nine-night festival honoring the nine forms of Goddess Durga, began on September 22 and is scheduled to conclude with Vijayadashmi on October 2. This year’s observances have drawn particular attention because an uncommon lunar alignment, called a Vriddhi Tithi, has effectively extended the festival calendar, creating an additional day of worship and prompting several deities’ observances to fall on successive dates.

Devotees across India and in diaspora communities are following a daily cycle in which each day is dedicated to a different manifestation of the goddess and associated with a colour, mantras, and customary offerings. Day two, observed on September 23, is devoted to Maa Brahmacharini and marked by the colour red; worshippers invoke her ascetic devotion and seek inner strength. Day three honours Maa Chandraghanta in royal blue; she is depicted with a half-moon bell on her forehead and is worshipped for courage, peace, and relief from fear. Because Tritiya tithi fell twice this year, Chandraghanta’s worship was observed on both September 24 and 25, a calendar detail that created some confusion among devotees and event organisers.