Guide one
Full-Moon Calendar
A full moon comes round every 29.53 days on average. Here is when the next ones happen, and how the Hindu lunar calendar turns those moments into Purnima days.
The next full moons
Times are the astronomical moment of full moon, in Indian Standard Time (UTC+5:30), with the distance from Earth’s centre to the moon’s centre at that moment. Lunar month names follow the common purnimanta usage and are a guide only.
| Date (IST) | Time | Lunar month | Distance | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 24 Nov 2026 | 20:23 | Kartika | 360,765 km | |
| Thu 24 Dec 2026 | 06:58 | Margashirsha | 356,738 km | Close: a supermoon |
| Fri 22 Jan 2027 | 17:47 | Pausha | 357,644 km | Close: a supermoon |
| Sun 21 Feb 2027 | 04:53 | Magha | 363,306 km | |
| Mon 22 Mar 2027 | 16:13 | Phalguna | 372,527 km | Holi season |
| Wed 21 Apr 2027 | 03:57 | Chaitra | 383,430 km | |
| Thu 20 May 2027 | 16:28 | Vaishakha | 393,902 km | Buddha Purnima season |
| Sat 19 Jun 2027 | 06:14 | Jyeshtha | 401,952 km | |
| Sun 18 Jul 2027 | 21:14 | Ashadha | 405,979 km | Farthest of the year: a micromoon |
| Tue 17 Aug 2027 | 12:58 | Shravana | 405,080 km | |
| Thu 16 Sep 2027 | 04:33 | Bhadrapada | 399,353 km | |
| Fri 15 Oct 2027 | 19:16 | Ashvin | 389,938 km | Sharad Purnima season |
| Sun 14 Nov 2027 | 08:55 | Kartika | 378,766 km | |
| Mon 13 Dec 2027 | 21:38 | Margashirsha | 368,141 km |
The festival day for a Purnima follows the tithi in force at sunrise in a particular place, so your local panchang may mark the day before or the day after the astronomical full moon. Always use a local calendar for rituals and fasts.
How a tithi works
A tithi is the time it takes the moon to gain 12 degrees on the sun in the sky. Thirty of them make a lunar month. Because the moon’s speed varies, a tithi can last anywhere from about 19 to 26 hours, so tithis do not line up neatly with days. Occasionally a tithi is skipped or one spans two sunrises.
| Half | Tithis | Ends at |
|---|---|---|
| Shukla paksha (bright half) | Pratipada to Chaturdashi, then Purnima | Full moon |
| Krishna paksha (dark half) | Pratipada to Chaturdashi, then Amavasya | New moon |
Purnimanta and amanta
There are two ways of deciding where a month ends. In the purnimanta system, used across much of North India, the month ends at the full moon. In the amanta system, used across much of South and West India, the month ends at the new moon. The Purnima itself falls on the same day in both, but the fortnight after it carries a different month name.
Why Purnimas drift
Twelve lunar months add up to about 354 days, roughly 11 days short of a solar year. So each Purnima arrives about 11 days earlier than the year before. To keep festivals in their seasons, an extra month, Adhik Maas, is added roughly every 32.5 months. After a leap month, the dates jump later again.
Full moons beyond India
- In Sri Lanka, every full-moon day, Poya, is a public holiday, and Vesak Poya marks the Buddha’s life.
- In Nepal, Buddha Jayanti and Guru Purnima are widely observed.
- The Mid-Autumn Festival in East Asia falls on the full moon of the eighth lunar month of the Chinese calendar.