Pitru Paksha 2025: Why You Should Not Cut Your Hair And Nails During This Time

Pitru Paksha, also known as Shraddha Paksha, is a sacred 16-day period in the Hindu calendar that is marked by prayers and offerings to ancestors. In 2025, Pitru Paksha will be observed from September 8 to September 22. During this time, devotees perform rituals such as tarpan, pind daan and shraddha to express gratitude and seek blessings from their forefathers. Along with the rituals, there are specific do’s and don’ts that people follow, and one of them is refraining from cutting hair and nails.

Spiritual significance of Pitru Paksha

Hindus believe that Pitru Paksha is a spiritual period when the souls of ancestors visit their descendants to receive offerings. Cutting hair or nails during this period is often linked to vanity and personal grooming, which are seen as distractions from the spiritual purposes.

Also read: Pitru Paksha 2025: 7 Food Items That Are Considered Satvik Bhojan

Symbol of mourning

Pitru Paksha is also regarded as a mourning period, as families remember their departed loved ones. Traditionally, cutting hair and nails is avoided during mourning phases, such as after a death in the family. The same logic extends to Pitru Paksha, where trimming hair or nails is viewed as inappropriate and inauspicious.

Also read: Lunar Eclipse And Pitru Paksha On Sept 7: Know The Dos And Don'ts

Belief in energy and purity

The hair and nails are considered to carry certain energies of the body. Cutting them during Pitru Paksha is thought to disturb the spiritual balance required for rituals. It is also believed that discarded hair or nails may attract negative energies, which could interfere with the peaceful journey of ancestral souls.

Observing simplicity during Pitru Paksha

Families eat satvik food, avoid celebrations and maintain a humble lifestyle. Abstaining from personal beautification practices like haircuts, shaving, or nail trimming reflects this simplicity and aligns with the mood of the period.