Masa 12 of 12
Phalgunaఫాల్గుణం
The year ends in colour — Holika Dahan on the full moon, Holi the day after.
- Named for
- Purva and Uttara Phalguni
- Ritu
- Shishira (winter)
- Sun crosses
- Kumbha into Meena
- Roughly
- February-March
About Phalguna
Phalguna closes the lunar year, and it does so with the least solemn festival in the calendar. Holika Dahan is kept on the full moon with a bonfire, and Holi follows the next morning. The month sits at the end of winter with spring visible from it, and the tradition lets the year finish in play rather than in ceremony. Ugadi and the new Chaitra follow within days.
Festivals and observances
- Amalaki Ekadashi — shukla ekadashi
- Holika Dahan — Phalguna purnima, at pradosha
- Holi (Rangapanchami in parts of the west) — the following day
- Vijaya Ekadashi — krishna ekadashi
- Phalguna Amavasya — the last day of the lunar year
How the month gets its name
The month is named for the nakshatra in which its full moon falls. Because a lunar month is about 29.5 days and the moon returns to the same nakshatra in about 27.3, the match is close rather than exact — the full moon lands in the named nakshatra most months and in a neighbouring one occasionally. The name does not change when it does; the rule fixed the names long ago and they stay put.
Everything here follows the amanta convention used across the Telugu country and the south, in which the month ends at the new moon. In the purnimanta reckoning of the north the month ends at the full moon instead, so every waning-fortnight day carries the following month's name. The days are identical; only the label differs.