Telugu women's fast for marital happiness; Gauri puja with atlu (dosas) after moonrise

Atla Tadde is a festival of Telugu women, celebrated in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana on the Tritiya of the dark fortnight of Ashvayuja, a day before the North Indian Karwa Chauth. Married women keep it for the long life and well-being of their husbands, and unmarried girls for a good husband. The day begins before dawn with a meal of rice, gongura pachadi, curd and other dishes (the suddi or chaddi annam), after which the fast is kept through the day. In the morning girls and women play in the courtyards and swing on swings (uyyala) tied to trees, singing the festival's folk songs, including Atla Taddoi Aarati Taddoi. In the evening, after the moon rises, Goddess Gauri is worshipped and offered atlu — small dosas of rice and black gram flour, eleven in number — and women exchange vayanam: a gift of atlu, a blouse piece, turmeric, kumkum and bangles given to a married woman. The fast is broken after seeing the moon. The festival's legend tells that Parvati herself observed this vrat to win Shiva as her husband, and a princess who broke it early had to keep it again to be reunited with her husband.

After the pre-dawn meal, the fast is kept until the moon is seen.