Notes: All timings are represented in 24+ hour notation in local time of Fairfield, United States with DST adjustment (if applicable).
Hours past midnight are higher than 24:00 and fall on next day. In Panchang day starts and ends with sunrise.
Most Hindu families prefer purchasing gold during Diwali. Purchasing gold during Diwali is religiously significant as buying gold during Diwali is considered auspicious. The ritual of buying gold during Diwali is equivalent of inviting Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity at home.
Apart from jewelry, the most preferred items to purchase gold during Diwali are coins. In India, gold coins are specially molded for Diwali with Goddess Lakshmi embossed on the front and her symbol Shri embossed at the other side of the coin. In other coins, both Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha, and optionally Goddess Saraswati, are embossed on gold coins.
The newly bought gold is used during Lakshmi Puja and it is kept inside an artificial home called Hatari (हटरी), which is either made of mud or silver. During Lakshmi Puja, the newly bought gold coin is attached to the navel of Goddess Lakshmi with the adhesive which is prepared ad-hoc with Sindoor and pure Ghee.
Like other important activities the most Hindus prefer Muhurat i.e. auspicious time to purchase gold during Diwali. Pushya Nakshatra day and Dhanteras are the two most auspicious days when most of the gold purchasing occurs during Diwali festivity. Nakshatra Pushya, being the birth star of Goddess Lakshmi, has got the honor of being the most auspicious Nakshatra to bring Lakshmi home.
Due to being associated with Goddess Lakshmi, Pushya Nakshatra is considered good for buying gold and gold jewelries for Diwali. When Pushya Nakshatra prevails on Thursday it creates Guru Pushya Yoga or Gurupushyamrut Yoga and when it prevails on Sunday it creates Ravi Pushya Yoga. In Vedic astrology, both Guru Pushya and Ravi Pushya are given utmost importance to perform all sorts of purchasing activities.
In most years Pushya Nakshatra prevails few days before Dhanteras and this day is preferred to do Deepawali shopping, including gold, new clothes and jewelries. Most jewelry shops make special arrangements to handle extra rush on the day of Pushya Nakshatra before Dhanteras. It should be noted that more gold coins are sold on the day of Pushya Nakshatra than the day of Dhanteras. However, on Dhanteras silver coins are more in demand along with Kalash, bowls, spoons, tumblers and Lakshmi-Ganesha statues made of silver.
Apart from Pushya Nakshatra day, Dhanteras is the most significant day to purchase Gold and this day is considered as auspicious as that of Akshaya Tritiya to purchase gold and gold jewelry.