Chhath Puja 2026 Dates: 13 to 16 November

Patna ghats, the ponds of Ranchi, and the neighbourhood tanks of eastern Uttar Pradesh change character in the days after Diwali. Families mark a stretch of water, soak lentils, and clear four dawns and dusks on a kitchen calendar. Chhath Puja 2026 is that four-day vrat. The sequence published by festival guides for this year runs Friday 13 November through Monday 16 November 2026, with the main Sandhya Arghya on Sunday 15 November and Usha Arghya at sunrise on Monday 16 November.

Verification note: The day-by-day list used here follows the 2026 breakdown published by Rudraksha Ratna’s Chhath guide: Nahay Khay on 13 November, Kharna on 14 November, Sandhya Arghya on 15 November, Usha Arghya and parana on 16 November. The same article also contains a line that points at 17 November, so the printed tradition is not perfectly clean. Households in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and Nepal should confirm the tithi against a local panchang before they print invitations. Arghya is offered at local sunset and local sunrise, not at one national minute.

City sites that publish ghat timings and crowd plans are a public-information job as much as a design job. We build those pages with web development and digital marketing from Jaipur, including for teams outside Rajasthan who need Hindi-English clarity.

The four days, in order

• Friday, 13 November 2026 — Nahay Khay: the first day. Observers bathe, clean the house and the worship space, and eat a single simple meal, often bottle gourd and rice, after the bath. The kitchen is prepared for the stricter days ahead.
• Saturday, 14 November 2026 — Kharna / Lohanda: a day-long fast without water for those keeping the full vrata, broken after sunset with kheer, roti and banana offered first to the deity and then shared.
• Sunday, 15 November 2026 — Sandhya Arghya: the evening standing in water. Offerings go to the setting sun. This is the day most cities photograph and the day ghats are fullest.
• Monday, 16 November 2026 — Usha Arghya and parana: the fast continues through the night. Before sunrise the same offerings meet the rising sun. The fast ends after Usha Arghya.

Chhath is tied to the sixth day, Shashthi, of the bright half of Kartik. The name is the Prakrit descendant of the Sanskrit shashthi. The vrat is associated with Surya and with Chhathi Maiya. It is one of the strictest fasts still widely kept: the full form avoids food and, on the core days, water. People who are pregnant, elderly, or unwell routinely keep a lighter form in consultation with their family and their doctor. This page is not medical advice and will not tell anyone to skip water.

Why sunset and sunrise beat a WhatsApp minute

Sandhya Arghya is the offering to the setting sun. Usha Arghya is the offering to the rising sun. Both are local astronomical events. Patna, Delhi, Kolkata and a town in Nepal Madhesh do not share a sunset minute, even though they share IST or a nearby civil clock. A municipal “ghat opens at 4:00 PM” notice is about crowd control. The offering itself waits for the sun. If your city publishes an official ghat roster for 2026, that PDF is the document to follow for entry gates. It does not replace the sun.

Specific sunrise figures circulating on commercial pages often belong to one unnamed city. We are not repeating a 6:45 AM figure as if it were national. On Monday 16 November, look up sunrise for your own coordinates. The fast ends after that offering, not when a television anchor says the word parana.

Thekua, soop, and the days of cooking

The offering basket — the soop — commonly holds thekua (a jaggery and wheat biscuit fried in ghee), bananas, sugarcane, coconuts, and seasonal fruit. Wheat is washed and dried days ahead. Families who live in apartments far from a ghat still keep the kitchen half of the vrat and walk to a society tank or a permitted river step. Purity rules around the kitchen are strict in observant homes: the person cooking often bathes first, and food is not tasted while it is being prepared. Guests who are not observing should ask before they enter that kitchen on Saturday and Sunday.

If you are sending ingredients to parents, aim for delivery by Thursday 12 November. A thekua order that arrives on Sunday afternoon misses Kharna and crowds the evening basket. Rail and air bookings into Patna, Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Ranchi tighten after Diwali weekend. The 13 November start is a Friday, so the travel crush is Thursday night and Friday morning, on top of people still returning from the Sunday Diwali trip. Book earlier than you think the festival “starts”.

Ghats, safety and civic plans

Municipal corporations in Patna, Delhi, Ranchi and other cities usually publish ghat lists, barricading plans and prohibited-item notes in the week before Chhath. Those 2026 orders are not yet confirmed in this guide. When they appear, they are the right source for “which ghat is open”, not a viral aerial photo from 2024. Carry the basket you need, keep children close at the waterline, and leave a dry set of clothes in the car or with a relative on the bank. Rivers in November are colder than the afternoon air suggests.

Fireworks are not the centre of Chhath. What the ghats need is space to stand facing the sun, a way out if someone feels faint, and volunteers who know where the medical tent is. If you are organising a housing-society tank, agree the standing edge, the lights, and a no-plastic rule before Saturday. Leftover offerings should go home or to a place the society has named. They should not be left in the water.

Leave policies that respect the four days

A company that grants “Diwali week” and then schedules a compulsory Monday standup on 16 November will lose the people who are at a ghat before sunrise, many of them still fasting. Friday 13 November is Nahay Khay, a lighter day for some and a travel day for others. Sunday evening and Monday morning are the days to protect. Ask, do not assume every Bihari colleague observes, and do not assume nobody in a Pune office does. The vrat travels with families.

After Diwali, not instead of it

Diwali Lakshmi Puja is Sunday 8 November. Bhai Dooj is Wednesday 11 November. Chhath’s first day is Friday 13 November. They are neighbours on the calendar and different vows. A poster that says “Diwali and Chhath sale, 8 to 16 November” can be honest if the shop is actually open and the discount is real. It is a poor description of either rite. Retailers who serve thekua ingredients, sugarcane and new soops have a real season. They do not need to borrow Lakshmi’s name to explain it.

Search interest shifts from “chhath puja 2026 date” in October to “nahay khay”, “kharna samay”, “sandhya arghya” and city ghat names in the final week. Publish the four dates together so the page still answers the first query when the later queries arrive.

More calendars on this site: Navratri and Dussehra 2026, Amazon Great Indian Festival, and Yom Kippur 2026. For a municipal or brand page that can be updated when the ghat list drops, contact TheTriFusion.

The kitchen clock, written down

A household keeping the full vrat can pin four lines to the fridge on Thursday 12 November. Friday: bathe, one meal, wheat and jaggery washed and drying. Saturday: fast through the day, break after sunset with the offered kheer and roti, nothing tasted while it cooks. Sunday: the soop packed before you leave for the ghat, arghya at local sunset, home without a second plan that needs you alert. Monday: up before local sunrise, Usha Arghya, then the fast ends. Guests who are not fasting get told which of those four days the kitchen is closed to casual tasting. That conversation on Thursday prevents a hurt feeling on Saturday.

If you are travelling into a city for the Sunday ghat, arrive by Saturday afternoon. Sunday train platforms in Patna and Delhi are not where you want to be holding sugarcane. Leave a phone number of someone who is not standing in the water, so a relative who is delayed can still find the spot. Municipal lists, when they come, name gates. Save the PDF offline. Mobile data at a crowded ghat is the first thing that fails.

FAQ

What are the Chhath Puja dates in 2026?

The four-day sequence used in this guide is 13 to 16 November 2026: Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya Arghya, then Usha Arghya. Confirm with a local panchang because at least one write-up disagrees by a day.

Which day is the main evening arghya?

Sunday, 15 November 2026, at local sunset.

When does the fast end?

After Usha Arghya at local sunrise on Monday, 16 November 2026. There is no single national minute.

Is Chhath the same as Bhai Dooj?

No. Bhai Dooj is Wednesday 11 November. Chhath begins on Friday 13 November in this sequence.

Are 2026 ghat timings published here?

No. City lists are not yet confirmed in this guide. Follow your municipal corporation’s notice when it is issued.

Can someone keep the vrat without standing in a river?

Many households keep the kitchen observance and offer arghya at a permitted tank or at home when travel or health makes a ghat impossible. Ask your elders how your family has done it before. This page does not replace that.