The 2026 dates were checked on October 11, 2026 against the Government of India's Incredible India Chhath Puja page, the central government's 2026 holiday list issued by the Department of Personnel and Training, and four location-aware Drik Panchang Chhath calendars calculated for New Delhi, Patna, New York, and Los Angeles. This is a household-planning article. It does not provide spiritual instruction, fasting guidance, or health advice, and does not claim priest, scholar, or spiritual review. Chhath is observed in many regional and family forms; confirm your local dates and any tradition-specific details with a source your household trusts. Read Ghar's editorial policy.
Chhath Puja 2026 sits in the same fortnight as Diwali, and that is the planning problem. Nahay Khay falls on Friday, November 13, five days after the main Diwali evening, so for households that keep both, the travel, cleaning, shopping, and cooking land in one stretch. The third and fourth days are also timed to local sunset and sunrise, which change from one city to the next.
This guide stays with that planning problem: what the dates are, which local times to look up, and how to use five weeks of runway so the four days do not arrive all at once. It does not prescribe a puja sequence, offerings, songs, fasting rules, or how any of the four days should be kept. Chhath carries different traditions across regions and families, and your own household's version stays at the centre of the plan.
When is Chhath Puja in 2026?
Chhath Puja 2026 runs from Friday, November 13 to Monday, November 16, with the main day, Surya Shashthi, on Sunday, November 15, in the sources checked. The Incredible India Chhath Puja page lists the festival from Friday, 13 November to Monday, 16 November 2026. The central government's 2026 holiday list for its offices in Delhi gives "Pratihar Shashthi or Surya Shashthi (Chhat Puja)" as Sunday, November 15.
The four Drik Panchang calendars checked set out the days identically for New Delhi, Patna, New York, and Los Angeles: Nahay Khay on Friday, November 13; Lohanda and Kharna on Saturday, November 14; Sandhya Arghya, the evening offering to the setting sun, on Sunday, November 15; and Usha Arghya, the offering at sunrise, on Monday, November 16. This is the Kartik Chhath of October and November; Chhath is also observed in Chaitra, in March or April, on its own dates.
What changes by place is the clock. In the Drik Panchang calendars, sunset on November 15 is 5:01 PM in Patna and 5:28 PM in New Delhi, 27 minutes apart within one country, and 4:38 PM in New York and 4:49 PM in Los Angeles. Sunrise on November 16 is 6:07 AM in Patna, 6:44 AM in New Delhi and New York, and 6:27 AM in Los Angeles. Use the times for the city you will actually be in, not a relative's screenshot.
Families abroad have one more thing to confirm. In the New York and Los Angeles calendars the four dates match India's, but the Shashthi tithi falls at different local hours: in New York it runs from 12:53 PM on Saturday, November 14 to 3:30 PM on Sunday, November 15, ending about an hour before that day's sunset, and Los Angeles shows the same pattern. A tithi begins and ends at one instant everywhere, so it lands at a different local time in each place. Ask your temple or community organizers which evening and morning they are using, and plan around their answer. Ghar's guide to the Hindu calendar and panchang at home explains the mechanics.
Five weeks out: write down four dates and two times
Open one shared calendar and enter the four days for the city you will be in: Nahay Khay on Friday, November 13, Kharna on Saturday, November 14, Sandhya Arghya on Sunday, November 15, and Usha Arghya on Monday, November 16. Beside the Sunday, write that city's sunset; beside the Monday, its sunrise. If relatives in another country are working to a different plan, add theirs too, labelled by city, so nobody re-derives it in November.
Then settle the shape of the four days in one line: who is observing, where the household will be, who is travelling, and where the evening and morning offerings will take place, whether at a riverbank, a pond, a community site, or closer to home. Everything else, from how much to cook to who drives before dawn, follows from that line, and it is far easier to agree in October than in the week of Diwali.
The calendar helps on one count. November 15 is a Sunday, so in many places the evening does not compete with work. The pressure moves to the edges: Friday, November 13 is an ordinary working day in most places, and the Monday sunrise runs straight into an ordinary working and school day for many households, especially abroad.
Three to four weeks before: travel, supplies, and the Diwali overlap
If anyone is travelling home for Chhath, decide now and book as soon as you can. Nahay Khay falls five days after the main Diwali evening, so a trip that covers both festivals is one booking with one set of dates, and those dates need agreeing before anyone buys a ticket. If the trip is for Chhath alone, book around all four days, not just the Sunday.
Make the supplies list early, especially if you live far from where your family's tradition comes from. Ask the person observing which items and foods matter most to them, then sort the list into what can be bought locally, what needs ordering, and what a relative or community group usually arranges. Anything made at home, such as thekua if your family makes it, should be a named job on a named day rather than a hope for the weekend.
Look hard at the gap between the festivals. In the calendars checked for Ghar's Diwali 2026 planner, Bhaiya Dooj falls on Wednesday, November 11 in New Delhi and Tuesday, November 10 in the US cities checked, which leaves one or two days before Nahay Khay. If your household cleans or resets the home and kitchen for Chhath, book that work into the calendar now, or do the deeper clean before Diwali and keep only a lighter reset for the gap. Families abroad who want local sunrise and sunset in one place may find the panchang app comparison for Indians abroad useful.
The four days: name the jobs before they start
The hard part is rarely one moment. It is four days in a row that start on a working Friday and end with a dawn on a Monday. Treat them as one unit and give each practical job a name a week ahead: supplies and shopping, the kitchen, driving and carrying, children, older relatives, and the calls to family in other time zones. These are logistics rather than obligations, and writing names beside them is what stops one person absorbing all of them silently.
If someone in the household is observing the vrat, plan the household's days around them rather than around the usual week. Ask what they need from everyone else on each of the four days, then move the cooking, errands, school runs, and calls so they do not land on that person. This article does not advise on fasting; if anyone has a health-related question, use qualified medical guidance rather than a festival checklist. The approach in the Ekadashi family fasting guide transfers directly: confirm the practice, plan the kitchen, skip the pressure.
If the evening and morning offerings happen at a riverbank, pond, or community site, plan each trip like an outing with a fixed deadline. Find out in advance where you can park or be dropped off, how far the walk is, and whether there are steps, mud, or a crowd near the water. Leave earlier than feels necessary for the Sunday sunset, and work backwards from the Monday sunrise: who wakes whom, who drives, and what goes in the car the night before.
Plan for the cold and the dark. Dawn in mid-November can be cold, and colder still in much of North America, so pack warm layers, dry clothes to change into, a light for the walk, and something to sit on for anyone waiting. Agree before you leave who is watching each child near the water, and if an older relative is coming, plan a seat, a short walk, and a warm car to come back to. If children are involved, give them something concrete to own, such as carrying something light or calling a grandparent who cannot be there, and answer the questions they actually ask. Ghar's guide on teaching Hindu traditions to kids takes that further.
Chhath Puja 2026 planning checklist
| Area | What to confirm | Backup |
|---|---|---|
| Your four dates | Nahay Khay Fri Nov 13, Kharna Sat Nov 14, Sandhya Arghya Sun Nov 15, and Usha Arghya Mon Nov 16, confirmed for your own city. | Write all four in the shared calendar, labelled by city where relatives differ. |
| Sunset and sunrise | Local sunset on Sun Nov 15 and sunrise on Mon Nov 16 from a location-aware calendar, not a forwarded image. | Note both beside the dates and set a leave-by time for each. |
| Community plan | Which evening and morning your temple or organizers are using, and where. | Keep it on its own line; ask again in the final week. |
| Travel | Tickets for anyone travelling home, booked around both Diwali and all four Chhath days. | Hold one flexible leg rather than two fixed, expensive ones. |
| Supplies | What the person observing needs, and what is bought locally, ordered, or made at home. | Name one person to track the list and one fallback shop. |
| Kitchen | Who cooks what on which day, and how the rest of the household eats. | Keep one simple prepared meal for the busiest evening. |
| The water | Parking or drop-off, walking distance, steps, and crowds at the site. | Agree a meeting point and a leave-by time before you set out. |
| Cold and safety | Warm layers, dry clothes, a light for the dark, and who watches each child near the water. | Keep a warm car or a nearby indoor spot as the place to regroup. |
| Work and school | Commitments on Fri Nov 13 and on Monday morning after the sunrise. | Move what you can now; say early that you will start late on Monday. |
| Privacy | Who can see photos and video of family members at the water before sharing. | Send pictures one-to-one, not into a large group. |
The final week: confirm, then keep the mornings simple
In the last week, re-check only what moves: the community's plan and location, travel, outstanding orders, and the weather for Sunday evening and Monday morning. Then send one clear message with the household's plan: the four dates, the sunset and sunrise times you are working to, who is doing what, and when the calls happen. One message beats five overlapping chats.
On the days themselves, keep the logistics quiet and let what slips simply slip. Lay out clothes, bags, and car keys before bed on Sunday, and keep Monday morning free of anything that has to happen straight after sunrise. Afterwards, write down what worked somewhere you will find it next year: the times, the route, the list, and who did which job.
Use Ghar to keep the Chhath days in order
Ghar brings location-aware Hindu calendar context, festival preparation runways, reminders, and household organization into one place. Its calendar shows the tithi, sunrise, and sunset for the panchang location you set, so the two times this plan turns on sit beside the dates instead of in a forwarded screenshot. The Diwali 2026 planner covers the fortnight that comes just before.
Ghar supports planning and home practice; it does not replace your family's temple, priest, guru, elder, or tradition. Start free on iPhone and keep the guidance your household trusts first.
FAQ
When is Chhath Puja in 2026?
In the sources checked, Chhath Puja 2026 runs from Friday, November 13 to Monday, November 16, with the main day, Surya Shashthi, on Sunday, November 15. Incredible India lists the four days from November 13 to 16, the central government's 2026 holiday list gives Surya Shashthi as November 15, and Drik Panchang calendars for New Delhi, Patna, New York, and Los Angeles show both. Confirm your own city and your community's plan.
What are the four days of Chhath Puja 2026?
In the four Drik Panchang calendars checked, Nahay Khay is Friday, November 13; Lohanda and Kharna is Saturday, November 14; Sandhya Arghya, the evening offering, is Sunday, November 15; and Usha Arghya, the sunrise offering, is Monday, November 16, 2026. Incredible India lists the same four-day span.
What time are sunset and sunrise for Chhath Puja 2026?
They depend on your city. In the Drik Panchang calendars, sunset on Sunday, November 15 is 5:01 PM in Patna, 5:28 PM in New Delhi, 4:38 PM in New York, and 4:49 PM in Los Angeles. Sunrise on Monday, November 16 is 6:07 AM in Patna, 6:44 AM in New Delhi and New York, and 6:27 AM in Los Angeles. Look up your own city close to the date.
Is Chhath Puja 2026 on the same date in the USA as in India?
In the Drik Panchang calendars checked, yes: New York and Los Angeles show the same four dates as New Delhi and Patna, November 13 to 16. Local times differ, and in New York the Shashthi tithi ends at 3:30 PM on November 15, before that day's sunset, so ask which evening your temple or community is using before you book anything.
Keep one Chhath plan instead of five chats.
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