Navratri kanya pujan (kanjak) at home. Families are filming feet-washing, bhog thalis and girls dressed as little Durga since Oct 7; Google 'kanya pujan' rose about 14x.
The spike
Social and search spiked together on Oct 16.Verified: the top posts on the social peak day were hand-checked and are about this trend.
Why it’s trending
For a day, a little girl is treated as the goddess, and grown women remember being her.
What’s happening
Ashtami and Navami fall on Oct 18-19, so families are preparing kanya pujan: washing girls' feet, setting out halwa, puri and chana thalis, and choosing gifts. Others post funny 'I want kanjak too' reels and wistful memories of childhood kanjak.
What content is working
Trending hashtags
The tags people used most on posts about this trend, ranked by number of posts. Generic tags like #fyp and #viral are left out.
- #navratri 187 posts
- #kanyapujan 163 posts
- #kanjak 155 posts
- #navratrispecial❤️ 32 posts
- #navratrispecial 52 posts
- #navratri2026 48 posts
- #gifting 16 posts
- #returnfavours 15 posts
- #durgapuja 17 posts
- #giftideas 11 posts
Sentiment
Automatic sentiment labels across 751 posts and 400 comments.
The other side · what’s negative
Some grumblingThe mood is warm and nostalgic. One post questions the contrast between honouring girls in the ritual and violence against them.
Safe to go positive with warm, family-led bhog and blessing content. Keep it respectful: no jokes about the ritual and no claims that use girls to sell.
What people are saying in comments
Choti matarani ka ashirwad mil gaya
Betiyan bhi to Mata ka rupi hoti hai
Wo din bhi kya din the
Yr sch me missing that subh subh ready ho jate the
Sach me but wo din kbhi wapas ni ayenge
Seriously hm sab miss krte h
Ek zamane me Mai bhi baithti thi isme
Meri mummy ne kabhi kisi ke ghar nahi bheja .. mere ghar khud log prashaad dene aa jaate thy
Hum to hamesha steel ki plate me hi bhojan paroste hai
I always gift steel tiffins filled with halwa since 10 years and my mother too...
Very good gift idea for little girl
Next year se hum bi bhejenge kanjak. Silver coin k lie
Dakshina badhao .... Kanjak nahi mandap deserve karti ho
Sab kuch to khaa liya navratri kya reh gyi
Itna khane key baad vrat bhi rakna hai kya
Why plastic? Thoda extra lagake steel k lelo.. plastic health k liye bhi theek nahi hai neither environment friendly
The content strategy we observed
The biggest videos are relatable kanjak comedy reels made to be tagged and shared; the calm ritual videos have far fewer views.
Comedy reels use a share cue in the caption ('Tag them', 'share kardo'); #4 puts on-screen text saying she wants to take part in kanjak.#1 #2 #4
The comedy plays on being a kanjak girl as a grown woman: baby faces and short height, how girls behave on the day, and kanjak envy in an orange saree with a clay pot.#1 #2 #3 #4
All five are Instagram videos. Four are skits or relatable reels. The one ritual video (#5) is a close-up of hands washing a child's anklet-adorned feet in rose petals.#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
Playful and self-teasing in the top four, quiet and reverent in #5. #5 gets the best likes-to-views rate of the five (4.4%) despite far fewer views.#1 #2 #3 #4 #5
The top videos went up between Oct 9 and Oct 15: all 10 before Google searches peaked on Oct 16. Social views peaked on Oct 16.#1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10
Make a short relatable kanjak skit with a share line in the caption, and open on the thali or feet-washing moment for contrast.
What can brands do?
The ready-to-serve kanjak bhog thali
“Nine small steel plates, one big pot of halwa: mummy's kanjak morning, start to finish.”
- Format
- Step-by-step reel: cook the bhog, set the plates, serve the girls
- Platform
- Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts
- Who posts
- Home cooks and mom creators in North India
- Caption
- Nine girls, one thali, and mummy's halwa-puri-chana. How does your family do kanjak?
- When to post
- Oct 17-19, before Ashtami and Navami
- Watch out
- Never film children without parent consent; no religious claims or selling at the ritual itself.