Chhath Puja 2026: Dates, Four-Day Calendar and Rituals

Chhath Puja 2026 begins with Nahay Khay on Friday, 13 November and concludes with Usha Arghya on Monday, 16 November 2026. The main evening of worship, Sandhya Arghya, falls on Sunday, 15 November 2026, when devotees offer arghya (a ritual offering of water and prasad) to the setting sun. Because 2026 is an Adhik Maas year, an extra lunar month pushed the entire festive season later than usual, which is why Chhath arrives in mid-November this year.

Chhath Puja 2026: Four-Day Calendar

Chhath is observed over four days in the Hindu month of Kartik, from Chaturthi (the fourth lunar day) to Saptami (the seventh). The heart of the festival is Kartik Shukla Shashthi, the sixth day, which gives Chhath its name. Here is the full 2026 calendar:

Day	Date	Ritual	What happens
Day 1	Friday, 13 November 2026	Nahay Khay	Holy bath, house cleaned, one pure sattvik meal eaten
Day 2	Saturday, 14 November 2026	Kharna	Day-long fast, broken after sunset with gur ki kheer and roti
Day 3	Sunday, 15 November 2026	Sandhya Arghya	Arghya offered to the setting sun at the ghat; 36-hour nirjala vrat continues
Day 4	Monday, 16 November 2026	Usha Arghya	Arghya offered to the rising sun; parana (breaking of the fast)

The arghya must be offered exactly at sunset on 15 November and at sunrise on 16 November. In most north Indian cities, mid-November sunset falls roughly between 5:00 and 5:30 PM IST and sunrise between about 5:50 and 6:50 AM IST depending on your city, but the exact minute differs from city to city. Check the precise sunrise and sunset for your city on our daily panchang before you plan your ghat visit.

Why Chhath Is So Deeply Loved

Chhath is dedicated to Surya Dev, the Sun God, and Chhathi Maiya, the mother goddess who is believed to protect children and grant progeny, health and prosperity. Chhathi Maiya is revered as the sister of Surya in folk tradition, and many identify her with Usha, the dawn, or with Shashthi Devi of the Puranas.

Two things make Chhath unusual among Hindu festivals. First, it is one of the very few occasions when the setting sun is worshipped before the rising sun. The tradition teaches gratitude for the whole cycle of life, honouring the sun in its decline as sincerely as in its rise. Second, Chhath needs no idol, no temple and, for the core arghya, no priest. The devotee, the water and the sun meet directly. It is nature worship in its purest surviving form, and its rituals have remained essentially unchanged for centuries.

The festival is the soul of Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Terai region of Nepal, and wherever families from these regions have settled, from Delhi and Mumbai to Bengaluru and beyond, the ghats now come alive each Kartik.

The Four Days Explained

Day 1: Nahay Khay (13 November 2026)

Nahay Khay literally means "bathe and eat". The vrati (the person keeping the vrat, most often a mother, though men also observe it) takes a purifying dip, traditionally in a river such as the Ganga, and brings home holy water to prepare food. The house is scrupulously cleaned. The vrati eats a single, completely sattvik meal, typically kaddu-bhaat: bottle gourd and chana dal cooked with rice, prepared on a fresh or earthen stove without onion or garlic. From this meal onward, the discipline of Chhath begins.

Day 2: Kharna (14 November 2026)

On Kharna, the vrati fasts from sunrise to sunset without water. After sunset, she offers freshly prepared gur ki kheer (rice pudding sweetened with jaggery, never sugar) and chapatis to Chhathi Maiya, then eats this as her only meal, often sitting alone in a quiet, undisturbed space. Family members receive the same kheer as prasad. Once this meal ends, the great fast begins: roughly 36 hours without food or water, lasting until sunrise on the fourth day.

Day 3: Sandhya Arghya (15 November 2026)

This is the evening the whole community waits for. Through the day the household prepares prasad, and by afternoon families walk in procession to the ghat, the riverbank or pond edge, carrying bamboo baskets (daura) and winnowing trays (soop) laden with thekua, fruits and sugarcane. The vrati stands waist-deep in water and, as the sun touches the horizon, offers arghya: water and milk poured from folded hands or a lota, with the soop of offerings raised toward the sun. Folk songs dedicated to Chhathi Maiya fill the air. Many families also light diyas on the ghat, echoing the lamps of Diwali, which falls just a week earlier in 2026.

Day 4: Usha Arghya (16 November 2026)

Before dawn, families return to the same ghat in the dark. As the first rim of the sun appears, the vrati offers the morning arghya to the rising sun, completing the cycle. Prayers are offered for the family's health and for children's long life. The vrati then performs parana, breaking the 36-hour fast, usually with a sip of water, ginger and prasad. Thekua and fruits from the soop are distributed to everyone present, and receiving Chhath prasad is considered a blessing in itself.

Vrat Rules and Their Rigour

The Chhath vrat is widely regarded as one of the most demanding fasts in the Hindu tradition, and its rules are followed with great exactness:

• Nirjala fast: from the Kharna meal on 14 November until parana on the morning of 16 November, the vrati takes neither food nor water.
• Purity of the kitchen: prasad is cooked only after bathing, in utensils reserved for the puja, on a clean stove, using no onion, garlic or leftover ingredients. Many families cook on a mud chulha with mango wood.
• Simplicity of living: the vrati sleeps on the floor on a mat or blanket for all four days and wears new or freshly washed clothing, traditionally unstitched cloth such as a saree draped without stitched garments, per family custom.
• Continuity: once a family takes up Chhath, the vrat is traditionally continued every year and passed down generations, unless serious illness intervenes.
• No shortcuts: there is no "easy" version of the core vrat, though elders and the unwell may have another family member keep it on their behalf.

This rigour is not seen as hardship but as tapasya, austerity offered out of love, and vratis often describe the fast as sustaining rather than draining.

Prasad: Thekua and the Soop

Thekua is the signature prasad of Chhath: a hand-pressed cookie of whole wheat flour, jaggery and ghee, flavoured with fennel or dry coconut and deep fried until firm. Its long shelf life made it the ideal offering for journeys to distant ghats, and its taste is, for millions, the taste of home. Alongside thekua, the soop is filled with rice laddus (kasar), whole fruits such as bananas, water chestnuts and dab nimbu (a large citrus), coconut, and stalks of sugarcane, which are also used to make a small canopy at the ghat. Everything is offered whole and unblemished; nothing is tasted before the sun receives it.

Preparing the Ghat

Days before Sandhya Arghya, communities clean the riverbanks and pond edges, cut steps into the mud, and lay down mats and rangoli. Families mark a small spot with sugarcane poles and diyas. Where no natural water body is available, temporary ponds and water tanks are dug or erected, and municipal bodies in large cities now create artificial ghats in parks. If you are preparing your own spot, keep three things in mind: the vrati must be able to stand safely in waist-deep water, the western horizon should be visible for the evening arghya and the eastern horizon for the morning one, and the site must be left as clean as it was found. Cleanliness of the ghat is itself considered seva to Chhathi Maiya.

Celebrating Chhath Away From Home

For the vast Bihari and eastern UP diaspora in Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata, Chhath away from home is now a firmly established tradition. Yamuna ghats in Delhi, Juhu and other beaches in Mumbai, lakes in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, and the Hooghly ghats in Kolkata all host enormous gatherings. Housing societies increasingly build small water tanks or inflatable pools on their grounds so that elderly vratis need not travel. If you cannot reach a community ghat, a clean tub of water on a terrace facing the open sky is an accepted substitute; the sincerity of the vrat matters more than the size of the water body. Just confirm your city's exact sunset and sunrise on the panchang page, since arghya timings in Bengaluru or Mumbai differ noticeably from Patna.

Many families also mark the wider Kartik season with a Satyanarayan katha or a Surya puja at home before or after Chhath, especially when elders cannot keep the full vrat. If you would like a qualified priest to guide such a puja in your city, you can request a verified purohit through Purohit and have the vidhi performed correctly in your own home, whether you are in Patna or far from it.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is Chhath Puja in 2026?

Chhath Puja 2026 runs from Friday, 13 November (Nahay Khay) to Monday, 16 November (Usha Arghya). The main evening arghya, Sandhya Arghya, is on Sunday, 15 November 2026.

What time should arghya be offered on 15 and 16 November 2026?

Sandhya Arghya is offered exactly at sunset on 15 November and Usha Arghya exactly at sunrise on 16 November. Timings vary by city, so check the sunrise and sunset for your location on the Purohit panchang page before heading to the ghat.

Why is Chhath celebrated in November in 2026 instead of late October?

2026 is an Adhik Maas year, meaning an extra lunar month was inserted into the Hindu calendar. This pushed the whole festive season later, so Diwali falls on 8 November and Chhath follows on 13 to 16 November.

How long is the Chhath fast?

The main fast lasts about 36 hours without food or water, from the Kharna meal after sunset on 14 November until parana after sunrise on 16 November 2026.

Who is Chhathi Maiya?

Chhathi Maiya is the mother goddess worshipped during Chhath, revered in folk tradition as the sister of Surya Dev and identified with Shashthi Devi, protector of children. Devotees pray to her for the health, prosperity and long life of their families.

Can Chhath be performed without a river or pond?

Yes. Where no natural water body is available, devotees use artificial ponds, society water tanks or even a large clean tub of water on a terrace under the open sky. The vrati should still face the setting and rising sun while offering arghya.

Do I need a priest for Chhath Puja?

The core Chhath rituals are performed directly by the vrati without a priest. However, many families arrange a Surya puja or Satyanarayan katha at home during the Kartik season, and for these a purohit can be booked through Purohit.

What is thekua and why is it important?

Thekua is the traditional Chhath prasad, a fried sweet made of whole wheat flour, jaggery and ghee. It is offered to Surya Dev in the soop during both arghyas and then distributed to family and neighbours as a blessing.