Savitri Amavasya
Savitri Amavasya is a regional public holiday in the Indian state of Odisha on the last day of the dark fortnight, in the month of Jyestha. This means it falls in May or June in the western calendar. Traditions of Savitri Amavasya In the early morning, women take purifying baths, wear new clothes and bangles, and apply red vermilion to their foreheads. Nine types of fruits and nine types of flowers are offered to the Goddess Savitri. The women fast from sunrise to sunset. During the day they pray for their husbands to have a long life, and listen to the tale of Savitri , who saved her husband Satyavan from being taken by the death god. Savitri was the beautiful daughter of King Aswapati of Madra Desa. She had chosen Satyaban as her life partner. Satyaban was a prince in exile who was living in the forest with his blind father. Savitri left her palace to live with her husband and his father in the forest. She was a devoted wife and daughter-in-law, g...