fasts and vrats
What is Ahoi Ashtami vrat and how does it differ from Karva Chauth?
What Ahoi Ashtami is
Ahoi Ashtami falls eight days before Diwali, on the eighth day of the dark half of the month of Kartik. Mothers fast from sunrise to moonrise for the welfare, health, and long life of their sons. The fast is called a vrat. During the day, mothers do not eat or drink. In the evening, they worship an image or drawing called Ahoi Mata. In older tradition, this figure is shown as a cat or tigress with her kittens. After sighting the moon or stars in the night sky, the fast is broken with food. The fast is kept even if a mother has only one son, or many.
How it differs from Karva Chauth
Karva Chauth is kept by wives for their husbands' long life and welfare. The fast is broken only when the wife sees the moon and then her husband's face. Ahoi Ashtami is kept by mothers for their sons. The fast is broken by sighting the stars or moon alone, not by seeing anyone's face. So the two fasts have different purposes—one is about marriage, the other about motherhood—and different ways of ending the fast. Both are observed in the autumn and winter months, but on different dates. Karva Chauth falls in the month of Kartik, usually a few weeks before Ahoi Ashtami.
Today
Both fasts are still widely kept, especially in North India and among the diaspora. Some mothers keep Ahoi Ashtami even if they live far from their sons, or if their sons are grown. The Ahoi Mata image is now often printed or drawn on paper rather than made by hand. Some families do a simple puja at home; others gather in groups. The fast is seen as a way to stay connected to a child's welfare and to the rhythm of the year. Like many vrats, it is also a time for women to gather, share a meal after the fast, and exchange stories.