How is Ahoī Aṣṭamī kept, and do we break the fast by seeing the stars?

mothers fast for their children’s well-being and usually break the fast after offering arghya to the stars in the evening; some wait for moonrise.

Ahoī Aṣṭamī falls on Kārtika kṛṣṇa aṣṭamī, four days after Karvā Cauth and about a week before Diwālī. It is kept mainly in North India by mothers, and increasingly by those hoping for a child.

An image of Ahoī Mātā, often with a porcupine (syāhu) and her young, is drawn on the wall or bought printed. In the evening the kathā is read, water is offered from a karvā, and many women wear a syāhu-mālā of small silver beads, adding one bead for each child. The fast is broken after the first stars appear; families whose custom is to wait for the moon, which rises late that night, do so instead.

Like Karvā Cauth, it is often nirjalā, but pregnant women, new mothers and those who are unwell should drink water and eat as needed. A mother’s prayer is complete even with a glass of water in hand.

Kārtika kṛṣṇa aṣṭamī · Source: Ahoī vrata-kathā (North Indian folk tradition)

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