# Chhath Puja 2026 -- Date, Significance & How It's Celebrated > Chhath Puja falls on Sunday, 15 November 2026. Exact dates for 2026 and 2027, the real mythology, honest rituals and regional variations, plus the computed panchang for the day -- no fear-selling. - **Canonical URL**: https://merirashi.com/en/festivals/chhath-puja - **Language**: en --- 1. [Home](https://merirashi.com/en) 2. / 3. [Festivals](https://merirashi.com/en/festivals) 4. / 5. Chhath Puja Hindu Festivals 2026 - Lunar (tithi) observance ## Chhath Puja 2026 Sunday, 15 November 2026 ![](https://merirashi.com/_next/image?url=%2Fimages%2Ffestivals%2Fchhath-puja.png&w=3840&q=85) When is Chhath Puja in 2026? Chhath Puja falls on **Sunday, 15 November 2026** -- Kartik Shukla Shashthi -- the sixth day of the waxing moon in Kartik, the main day of the four-day Chhath festival dedicated to Surya and Chhathi Maiya. Shashthi - Shukla Paksha uttara-ashadha nakshatra Sunrise 06:40 AM Panchang computed live from the sidereal (Lahiri) ephemeris at Ujjain, the classical Hindu reference meridian -- not a stored guess. [Check today's Panchang & muhurat](https://merirashi.com/en/panchang)[All 2026 festival dates](https://merirashi.com/en/festivals) Dates ## Chhath Puja dates: 2026 & 2027 Exact verified dates for each covered year, with the computed tithi for the day. | Year | Date | Tithi | Status | | ---- | -------------------------- | ------------------------ | -------- | | 2026 | Sunday, 15 November 2026 | Shashthi - Shukla Paksha | Upcoming | | 2027 | Thursday, 04 November 2027 | Shashthi - Shukla Paksha | | Overview ## What Chhath Puja marks Chhath Puja is a four-day festival of sun worship, centred on Kartik Shukla Shashthi, observed with particular intensity in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, and among Maithil and Bhojpuri communities across Nepal's Terai region. Unlike most festivals, its rituals are performed standing in water -- rivers, ponds, or purpose-built ghats -- at the exact moments of sunset and sunrise, honouring both the setting and rising sun as equally sacred. The festival is dedicated jointly to Surya, the sun god, and Chhathi Maiya, a folk goddess associated with fertility, childbirth, and the wellbeing of children, and is known for one of the most physically demanding fasts in Hindu practice, undertaken with striking discipline and community support. Significance ## Mythology & meaning Chhath's mythology draws on several threads that converge on Surya worship. One widely told story holds that Draupadi and the Pandavas, during their exile, observed a Surya-focused fast on the advice of the sage Dhaumya to help recover their lost kingdom, an early textual anchor for the idea that sun worship carries the power to restore fortune. A second strand credits Karna, the Mahabharata's tragic warrior-hero and Surya's own son by Kunti, as an early and devoted worshipper of the sun, offering water to Surya daily at dawn -- a practice some retellings treat as the origin of Chhath's signature arghya (water offering) ritual. Chhathi Maiya, the festival's other central figure, is identified in folk tradition as Usha, the goddess of dawn, and, in some tellings, as a form of Devi Parvati or a manifestation of the mother goddess Prakriti -- she is invoked specifically for the health, safety, and long life of children, and many observers undertake the fast in gratitude for a child's birth or in hope of one. The choice to honour both the setting and the rising sun is itself doctrinally significant: most solar worship elsewhere in Hindu practice greets only the rising sun, but Chhath's first arghya, offered at sunset on the third day, deliberately honours the sun in its temporary decline -- a gesture of faith that what sets will rise again, and a reminder that both phases of any cycle, decline as much as ascent, deserve reverence. The fast itself (the vrat) is understood as one of the most rigorous in Hindu practice: a 36-hour nirjala (waterless) fast forms its core, undertaken by vrati (the observers, who may be men or women), and is treated with such seriousness that entire communities, including non-observing neighbours, adjust their own routines -- avoiding loud celebration or non-vegetarian cooking nearby -- out of respect for those fasting. The rigour of the vrat is itself treated as part of the offering: hardship willingly undertaken, in this tradition, is understood as a form of devotion in its own right, distinct from a simple prayer or donation. Rituals ## How it's celebrated The four days run in a fixed sequence. Nahay Khay, the first day, opens with a ritual bath and a single simple meal, often kaddu-bhaat (bottle gourd and rice), eaten before the main fasting begins. Kharna, the second day, involves a day-long fast broken only in the evening with a meal of rice pudding (kheer) and rotis, prepared without salt or onion and shared first with family before the vrati eats -- after this meal, the strict 36-hour nirjala fast begins in earnest. The third day is the festival's most visible: in the late afternoon, families carry offerings -- a bamboo soop (winnowing basket) filled with fruit, thekua (a sweet, deep-fried wheat and jaggery treat unique to the festival), sugarcane, and coconut -- to a riverbank, pond, or specially built ghat, where the vrati stands waist-deep in water to offer Sandhya Arghya, the evening offering, to the setting sun. The fourth and final day repeats the ritual at dawn, with the vrati returning to the water before sunrise to offer Usha Arghya to the rising sun, after which the long fast is finally broken, typically with prasad shared among family and neighbours. Ghats are elaborately decorated and lit for the occasion, and community associations in Patna, Delhi, and Mumbai -- cities with large Bihari and Purvanchali populations -- construct temporary ghats along rivers, lakes, and even artificial ponds where natural water bodies aren't available, reflecting the scale of migration from the festival's home region. The entire observance is markedly free of ostentation compared to many other festivals: no fireworks, minimal decoration beyond the ghat itself, and a deliberate simplicity in food and dress that stands in contrast to Diwali's exuberance just over a week earlier in the same lunar month. Municipal and civic bodies in many cities now assist with ghat construction, water testing, and safety barriers, a practical modern accommodation to a festival whose core ritual genuinely requires clean, accessible water. Across India ## Regional variations Same festival, many names Bihar is Chhath's historic and cultural centre, with Patna's ghats along the Ganga drawing some of the largest gatherings anywhere for the festival. Jharkhand and eastern Uttar Pradesh (particularly the Purvanchal region) observe it with comparable intensity. Nepal's Terai region, home to a large Maithili- and Bhojpuri-speaking population, treats Chhath as one of its most significant festivals, with major observances in cities like Janakpur and Biratnagar. Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata have all developed large-scale Chhath observances over recent decades, driven by migration from Bihar and eastern UP, often supported by dedicated community associations that build and maintain temporary ghats each year. Assam and West Bengal's border districts, with sizeable Bihari and Maithili populations, also hold notable observances, while some diaspora communities in the Gulf and North America now organise smaller-scale Chhath gatherings around available water bodies, extending the festival's reach well beyond its traditional Gangetic-plain heartland. Dates ## Chhath Puja in 2027 In 2027, Chhath Puja falls on Thursday, 04 November 2027 -- Kartik Shukla Shashthi -- the sixth day of the waxing moon in Kartik, the main day of the four-day Chhath festival dedicated to Surya and Chhathi Maiya. At Ujjain the day runs Shashthi (Shukla Paksha), with the Moon in purva-ashadha nakshatra. Tithi-based dates move with the lunar calendar each year; the rituals and significance stay the same. ## Frequently asked questions When is Chhath Puja in 2026? Chhath Puja's main day falls on Sunday, 15 November 2026, Kartik Shukla Shashthi -- the sixth day of the waxing moon in Kartik, and the third of the festival's four days. When is Chhath Puja in 2027? Chhath Puja's main day falls on Thursday, 4 November 2027, Kartik Shukla Shashthi -- the sixth day of the waxing moon in Kartik, and the third of the festival's four days. Why is Chhath Puja performed standing in water? The festival's central rituals -- the Sandhya Arghya and Usha Arghya offerings -- are made to the setting and rising sun while the vrati stands in a river, pond, or ghat, a practice tied to the festival's identity as sun worship performed at the sun's own transition points, dawn and dusk, rather than at a temple. Who is Chhathi Maiya? Chhathi Maiya is a folk goddess identified in tradition as Usha, the goddess of dawn, and sometimes as a form of Devi Parvati or the mother goddess Prakriti. She is invoked specifically for the health, safety, and long life of children, and the festival is partly observed in gratitude for a child's birth or in hope of one. Why does Chhath honour the setting sun as well as the rising sun? Most solar worship elsewhere in Hindu practice greets only the rising sun, but Chhath's first arghya, offered at sunset, deliberately honours the sun in its temporary decline -- a gesture of faith that what sets will rise again, and a reminder that both phases of a cycle deserve reverence. How difficult is the Chhath fast, and can it be modified? The core vrat is a 36-hour nirjala (waterless) fast, widely considered one of the most rigorous in Hindu practice, and its difficulty is treated as part of the devotion itself. That said, individual health circumstances are respected within families, and the surrounding rituals -- the arghya offerings, the prasad, the community gathering -- remain meaningful even for those who modify or can't complete the full fast. What is thekua? Thekua is a sweet, deep-fried wheat-and-jaggery treat unique to Chhath, prepared in large batches and carried in the bamboo soop (winnowing basket) of offerings to the riverbank alongside fruit, sugarcane, and coconut. 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