The Poornima festival of the Hindi religion

The man in white shirt
with a hat
is my grandfather!

Poornima (Purnima) is the Indian and Nepali word for full moon, while in Indonesian it is known as Purnama. Poornima is celebrated the day each month when the full moon occurs.

It’s also marks the division in each month between the two lunar fortnights (Paksha). The fortnight before Poornima is called as Shukla Paksha and fortnight after is called Krishna Paksha. Poornima is the day when many important festivals are celebrated, such as Guru Poornima, Kartik Poornima, Buddha Poornima etc. across India.

The praying believers

The praying believers

Many people keep Poornima Vrat on this holy day. They also take a dip in the sacred river before sunrise. The full Moon day/night is a time when the Moon shines at its brightest glory; illuminating everything and driving away all darkness and negativity.

The Priest (right) and a believer

This day is considered to be a wealthy day in Hinduism which has the ability to bring prosperity and the lives of people. Devotees also worship Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu on this day. Poornima is considered to be an ideal day to keep Poornima Fast for the entire day when devotees should not eat anything. Although, if it is unavoidable to stay hungry, devotees may eat fruits or other light things free from cereals, salt and pulses.

The Priest and me!

I and my grandfather joined a Poornima festival in Malaysia 2 weeks ago. When we took a walk on Kuala Lumpur street, we saw a house full of many Indians. It was well decorated with lights.  The believers were welcome us to join but we had to take off our shoes before stepping into the house. There, people ate Indian cakes, doing worships. The Priest held a bamboo broom and whip against the prayers' shoulders and gave them an apple and two pieces of cakes as a blessing.

 “The Indian Moon cake”and World Cup!

Buddists and maybe Confucianisists (Confucianism also known as Ruism) in Vietnam and China also worship to Buddhas or Gods on first day of Lunar month and on the day of full moon. So, we could easily share the religious view about this festival.