Which festivals and vratas are meant to be celebrated as a couple?

Diwali Lakṣmī pūjā, Satyanārāyaṇa kathā, Mahāśivarātri, Tīj and Gaṇeśa Caturthī are commonly done together; most pūjās are richer as a pair.

In the Vedic view a householder’s rites are done by husband and wife together — the wife is called sahadharmiṇī, partner in dharma. So almost any pūjā can be a couple’s pūjā. Some are especially associated with couples: the Satyanārāyaṇa kathā (often done after the wedding and on anniversaries), Lakṣmī pūjā on Diwali, Mahāśivarātri night, Gaṇeśa Caturthī, and in many regions Hariyālī or Hartālikā Tīj, Gaṇgaur and Vaṭ Pūrṇimā.

In the first year of marriage many communities have special “first” festivals — the bride’s first Tīj, Karvā Cauth, Saṅkrānti or Diwali at her in-laws’ or parents’ home — with gifts from both families.

A simple way to start: pick three festivals a year that you do fully together, from shopping to cooking to the pūjā. Sitting side by side, with the wife traditionally on the husband’s right during many rites (customs differ), turns the ritual into shared memory.

Wife as sahadharmiṇī — partner in dharma · Source: Gṛhya tradition; regional festival practice

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