Purnima Dates 2019 | Importance of Purnima

Purnima (Hindi:पूर्णिमा/पूर्णचंद्र, Telugu:పూర్ణిమ/పౌర్ణమి, Malayalam:പൗർണമി/പൂർണ്ണചന്ദ്രൻ, Tamil:பூர்ணிமா/முழு நிலவு) also spelled Poornima means 'night or day of Full Moon'. It is the time when the Moon is fully illuminated. Purnima comes on the 15th tithi of the bright half (Shukla paksh or waxing phase) of the lunar fortnight. The end of Purnima tithi marks the begining of 15 days of Krishna paksha (waning) phase of the Moon.

There are normally 12 Purnima days a year and each of them has their own significance. For many Hindus, Purnima is a spiritual day set aside for fasting and worship. Next Purnima, ie., Full moon in August, 2019 is on August 15, Thursday.

→ Full list of 2019 purnima dates

Festivals & Vrats on Purnima

Purnima vrat, Uma Maheshwar vrat, Satyanarayan Puja, Guru Purnima, Vat Purnima, Kartik Purnima, Holi Festival, Hanuman jayanthi, Dattatreya Jayanti, Raksha Bandhan, Buddha Purnima etc are associated with full moons of various hindu lunar months.

Purnima tithi timing on August 15, Thursday

Purnima has a special place in many religions especially Hinduism. Hindu lunar calendar puts a lot of emphasis on the lunar cycle and Purnima is considered very auspicious and is especially good for worship and observing religious vows.

Pournami Days in a Year

So, how many Purnimas are there in a year? Typically there are 12 Full Moons in an English calendar. However, if there occurs a blue moon ie., when there are 2 full moons in one month, there can be up to 13 purnimas a year. During the past decade, year 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015 and 2018 witnessed Blue Moons. The next Blue Moon will occur in the month of October, 2020.

All Purnima dates in 2019 and Purnima Tithi End