Bihar
The centre of the festival. Patna's ghats along the Ganga host lakhs of parvaitins, and the state effectively slows for four days. Chhath is the state's most widely observed festival, cutting across caste lines.
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Four days of sun worship at the riverbank — Bihar and eastern UP's defining festival.
Counting down to Chhath Puja 2026
Your local time · Sunday 15 November 2026
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Shashthi of Shukla Paksha in Kartik, six days after Diwali
Chhath Puja is the worship of the sun god Surya and Chhathi Maiya, observed over four days in Kartik, about a week after Diwali. In 2026 the main day, Sandhya Arghya, falls in mid-November. It is the single most important festival for people from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, and it is now celebrated in Delhi, Mumbai and every city with a large Bihari and Purvanchali population.
The four days run Nahay Khay (a ritual bath and a single vegetarian meal), Kharna (a day-long fast broken at night with gur ki kheer and roti), Sandhya Arghya (the main event — the evening offering to the setting sun at a riverbank or pond, standing in the water), and Usha Arghya (the morning offering to the rising sun, after which the 36-hour fast ends).
The vrat is kept by the parvaitin — usually a woman, though men also keep it — and is rigorous: no food or water for roughly 36 hours between Kharna and Usha Arghya, and standing in cold river water for the arghya. The ritual is performed on the banks of rivers, ponds and, in cities, any water body, with families travelling home to their village for the occasion even from abroad.
The thekua is the festival's signature offering — a wheat flour and jaggery biscuit. Daura of fruits, sugarcane and thekua are carried to the ghat in bamboo baskets. The festival's environmental dimension is significant: the ghats and water bodies that host it are cleaned, and municipal work on them has become a routine part of the civic calendar in Patna and other cities.
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Jai Chhathi Maiya! May Surya Dev bless your family with health and prosperity. Happy Chhath Puja!
Wishing you a blessed Chhath Puja. May your fast be gentle and your prayers answered.
Jai Chhathi Maiya! May the sun bring light and abundance to your home.
Happy Chhath Puja to every family travelling home for the ghat this year.
May Surya Dev fulfil every wish you carry to the riverbank. Happy Chhath!
Wishing you and your family a very Happy Chhath Puja. Jai Chhathi Maiya!
In the order a household actually does them.
Day 1 — Nahay Khay
Bathe in a river or at home with water drawn fresh, then eat a single sattvik meal cooked with clean utensils used only for this. Onion, garlic and any non-vegetarian food are strictly avoided from this day.
Day 2 — Kharna
Keep a waterless fast through the day. After sunset, break it with gur ki kheer (rice kheer with jaggery) and roti, cooked fresh. From this meal onwards, a 36-hour waterless fast begins.
Day 3 — Sandhya Arghya
Carry the daura to the ghat in the afternoon. Lay out the prasad on banana leaves inside bamboo soop, decorate with rangoli, and stand in the water facing west. Offer to the setting sun with raw milk, water and the prasad, holding the soop.
Day 4 — Usha Arghya
Return to the ghat before sunrise and offer to the rising sun facing east. After the arghya, break the 36-hour fast with prasad and ginger. This closes the vrat.
Many families and mohalla committees clean and decorate their local ghat in the days before, which is both a civic act and part of the ritual preparation.
This is where most festival sites give one national answer to a question that has several.
The centre of the festival. Patna's ghats along the Ganga host lakhs of parvaitins, and the state effectively slows for four days. Chhath is the state's most widely observed festival, cutting across caste lines.
Observed with the same four-day structure on the Ganga and Sarayu in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Allahabad and Ayodhya. The Purvanchali diaspora carries it everywhere.
Celebrated across Jharkhand with the same ghat rituals, and in Kolkata among the Bihari community, particularly at Babughat and the Ganga ghats organised for the festival.
In Delhi, the Yamuna ghats at ITO, Kalindi Kunj and Wazirabad are prepared for Chhath with temporary ponds for families who cannot reach a river. Mumbai has similar arrangements at Juhu and Powai.
Chhath is a major public holiday in Nepal's Terai region, with the same Nahay Khay, Kharna, Sandhya and Usha Arghya sequence on the Bagmati and other rivers.
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Directly required for the arghya and not something most households replace often, so a good bamboo soop set is genuinely needed.
Suits: mother, grandmother, family
The thekua is made at home in large batches, and a proper mould makes the patterns that first-time makers struggle with.
Suits: mother, wife, family
The daura contents are the offering itself; fresh sugarcane, coconut and bananas are a practical and on-theme gift for the parvaitin.
Suits: family, relatives
The arghya requires standing in cold river water in November, in the early morning. A warm shawl is the most useful gift someone keeping the vrat can receive.
Suits: mother, grandmother, parvaitin
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With honest budget ranges and a difficulty rating for each.
A rangoli drawn at the family's spot on the ghat steps, with a sun, a soop and sugarcane stalks. Draw it in the afternoon so it is ready before the arghya.
Budget: ₹100–₹400
Line the bamboo soop with banana leaves, then arrange thekua, sugarcane, coconut, banana, and seasonal fruit in it. Cover it with a second soop. Having two soops lets one be used for the offering and one for carrying prasad home.
Budget: ₹200–₹700
Two sugarcane stalks tied on either side of the puja area at home, with turmeric, banana leaves and a rangoli in front. If you cannot get to a river, the home puja uses the same arrangement.
Budget: ₹300–₹900
A row of diyas along the ghat step, placed on small mud platforms so they do not tip into the water. Light them at dusk, before the arghya.
Budget: ₹150–₹500
Including a note on why each dish belongs to this festival.
The signature Chhath offering — a wheat flour and jaggery biscuit that must be made without any of the restricted ingredients, and is what every family carries to the ghat.
About 60 minutes
Ingredients
The Kharna meal that breaks the first fast and starts the 36-hour waterless vrat — made with jaggery rather than sugar, and served with roti.
About 45 minutes
Ingredients
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Chhath Puja 2026 runs over four days in November, with the main Sandhya Arghya around 15 November following Diwali on 8 November. Check the exact Shashthi date for your city, as it can shift a day with the tithi.
The main vrat runs roughly 36 hours without food or water, from after the Kharna meal on day two to after the Usha Arghya on day four. Day two itself is also a daylight fast.
Yes. While the parvaitin is usually a woman, men also keep the Chhath vrat, and there is no restriction. The vrat is a family responsibility that is often passed down.
Thekua is a wheat flour and jaggery biscuit that is the signature Chhath offering. It is made without salt, onion, garlic or any non-vegetarian ingredient, fried in ghee, and carried to the ghat in a bamboo soop.
The daura or soop contains thekua, sugarcane, coconut, bananas, seasonal fruit, radish, turmeric and a kalash of water or raw milk. Offerings are made to the setting sun on Sandhya Arghya and the rising sun on Usha Arghya.
The arghya is traditionally offered at the family's ancestral ghat or water body, so Chhath drives one of the largest internal travel surges in India every November, with trains and flights booked months ahead.
Last reviewed 6 October 2026. This page covers a nationally observed festival — where practices differ, they are described separately rather than averaged. If you spot an error, tell us and we will correct it.