Karwa Chauth 2023: date and significance

Karwa Chauth is a one-day fast kept by married women for their husband's long life and wellbeing, observed on the fourth day (Chaturthi) of the dark fortnight of the lunar month Kartika (in purnimanta reckoning). The fast runs from before sunrise until moonrise, when the woman views the Moon, traditionally through a sieve, then her husband, before breaking the fast. Because the observance is anchored to moonrise itself rather than a fixed clock time, the exact civil date can shift a day depending on when the Moon rises at a given location. The custom is most widely observed in North India.