Mahavir Jayanti
31 March 2026 · movable holiday — May every living being be at peace. Happy Mahavir Jayanti!
Mahavir Jayanti (Mahavir Janma Kalyanak) is the most important festival of the Jains. It marks the birth of Mahavira, the 24th and last tirthankara (a teacher who shows the path to liberation) in the Jain tradition. It falls on the 13th day of the waxing moon in the month of Chaitra, usually between March and April, so the date shifts each year in the lunisolar calendar. According to tradition, Mahavira lived in the 6th century BCE and taught ahimsa, or non-violence toward every living being, along with truthfulness and restraint. On this day devotees visit temples, join processions carrying an image of Mahavira, listen to teachings, give food and money to people in need, and often fast. Donations for the care of animals are also common. The sky connection is the Moon: the festival is set by its phase and arrives shortly before the full moon of Chaitra. That is why a symbol, not a figure, crosses the sky: a palm with a wheel.
Flying across the sky: An ethereal, bluish-silver star figure made of luminous dots and fine lines, like a constellation drifting across the sky: an open palm with a small wheel at its center
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