Today I am talking about Ahoi Ashtami.

Ahoi Ashtami is a Hindu festival celebrated day 8 days

before Diwali. On Ahoi Ashtami Hindu mothers fast for their sons. The fasting and puja on Ahoi
Ashtami are dedicated to Mata Ahoi or Goddess Ahoi. This festival of Ahoi Ashtami is
observed by Hindu Mothers.
There are many tales related to this observance and one of them is told just after the puja is done as part of
the ritual. Once upon a time, there lived a moneylender who had seven sons. One day in the month
of Kartik, just a few days before Diwali festivities, the moneylender's wife decided to repair and decorate
her house for Diwali celebrations. To renovate her house, she decided to go to the forest to fetch some soil.
While digging the soil in the forest, she accidentally kills the young one of a lion with the spade with
which she was digging the soil. The animal then curses her to a similar fate and within a year all her 7
children die.
The couple unable to tolerate the grief decide to kill themselves en route to a final pilgrimage. They keep
walking till they are no longer able to and fall unconscious on the ground. God, on seeing this, feels pitiful
for them and makes an Akashvani asking them to go back, serve the holy cow and worship Goddess Ahoi
as she was believed to be the protector of the offspring of all living beings. The couple feeling much better,
return home.
They follow the divine command. When the day of Ashtami came, the wife drew the face of the young lion
and observed fast and performed Goddess Ahoi fast. She honestly repented for the sin which she had
committed. Goddess Ahoi was pleased with her devotion and honesty and appeared before her and gave
her the boon of fertility.
On the occasion of Ahoi Ashtami Mothers worship for the well-being and long life of their children. On
Ahoi Ashtami firstly we have Puja in the afternoon then in the evening several dishes are made. After that
Mothers give food and a complete set of clothes to someone elder in the family as a ritual.