Chhath Puja 2026छठ पूजा

Hindu date: Kartika Shukla Shashthi.

The evening offering (Sandhya Arghya) to the setting sun is on Shashthi; the festival begins with Nahay Khay two days earlier and ends with Usha Arghya at sunrise the next morning.

Dates are calculated for New Delhi. In other cities, and especially outside India, the tithi changes at a different local time, so a festival can fall a day earlier or later. Month names follow the Purnimanta calendar used in North India, where a month ends on Purnima. How we calculate

Nahay Khay opens the festival with a holy bath and a simple meal. On Kharna, the second day, devotees fast until evening and then eat kheer and roti, beginning a fast of about 36 hours without water. On the third evening they stand in a river or pond to offer arghya to the setting sun, and on the fourth morning to the rising sun, before breaking the fast.

Thekua and fruit are offered in bamboo soops. The vrat is traced to Sita, Kunti and Draupadi, and to Karna, a devotee of Surya.