दिवाली
The five-day festival of lights — Lakshmi Puja, diyas, sweets and new beginnings.
Counting down to Diwali 2026
Your local time · Sunday 8 November 2026
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Kartik Amavasya (new moon of the Hindu month of Kartik)
Diwali, also written Deepavali, is the festival of lights celebrated across India and by Indian communities worldwide. It falls on the new moon (Amavasya) of the Hindu month of Kartik, which places it in late October or November each year. In 2026 the main day is Sunday 8 November, and the wider season runs across five days from Dhanteras on 6 November to Bhai Dooj on 11 November.
The night itself is marked by rows of clay diyas along doorways, windows and balconies, a Lakshmi Puja for prosperity in the evening, and an exchange of sweets and gifts between families, neighbours and colleagues. Homes are cleaned and repainted in the weeks before, accounts are balanced, and businesses open new ledgers on the first day of the new financial year.
Diwali means different things to different communities. For most of North India it marks Rama's return to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile. In Gujarat it opens the new business year. In West Bengal the same week belongs to Kali Puja rather than Lakshmi Puja. In Maharashtra and Goa the day is celebrated as Narak Chaturdashi first, with an early oil bath. Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka call it Deepavali and treat the ritual oil bath as the centre of the day.
What holds all of it together is light: the idea that a house lit up is a house that welcomes good fortune, and that the turn of the lunar year is a reasonable moment to settle debts, forgive grudges and start again.
Copy any message in one tap. Written by hand, not pulled from a quote database.
May the diyas of Diwali light up your home with prosperity and your heart with peace. Happy Diwali!
Wishing you a Diwali that brings new beginnings, old friends and the sweetest mithai of the year.
May Goddess Lakshmi bless your home with health, wealth and happiness this Diwali.
Diwali ki hardik shubhkamnaayein — a very Happy Diwali to you and your family.
May this festival of lights burn away every sorrow and fill your life with new hope. Happy Diwali!
Wishing your family a safe, bright and joyful Diwali. May the year ahead be your best one yet.
Happy Diwali! May your home always glow the way it does tonight.
Let the light of a thousand diyas guide your path this year. Happy Diwali to you and yours.
In the order a household actually does them.
An early bath, usually with a little sesame or ubtan oil added to the water. The puja room is cleaned, the idol of Lakshmi and Ganesh are bathed and dressed, and the kalash is filled with water and topped with mango leaves and a coconut.
A thali with roli/kumkum, haldi, rice (akshat), a small diya, incense, camphor, fruits, a garland, and a sweet such as laddoo or barfi. Keep a bell (ghanti) and the bahi-khata if you keep accounts.
Performed in the evening, timed to Pradosh kaal / Sthir lagna. Ganesh is invoked first, then Lakshmi with the Shri Suktam. Offer lotus, light the diya, and do the aarti. Keep at least one diya burning through the night.
For business families: place the ledger on the puja, apply a tilak of kumkum and rice, and write 'Shubh Deepavali' with a new pen before any fresh entry is made.
Light the dakshin (south) and then the rest of the house, and place a diya at the gate, near the tulsi, and in the puja room. Oil diyas are traditional; many households swap to LEDs for long runs.
This is where most festival sites give one national answer to a question that has several.
Rama's return to Ayodhya frames the festival. Lakshmi Puja and Ganesh Puja are done in the evening, and the five days run Dhanteras to Bhai Dooj. Crackers are the loudest here, though Delhi's winter smog rules now restrict them heavily.
Diwali opens the new business year. Traders do Chopda Puja, applying tilak to fresh account books, and Dhanteras jewellery purchases are taken far more seriously than elsewhere. Gujarat also observes the new year as the next day, Bestu Varas.
The day starts early with Narak Chaturdashi — a pre-dawn oil massage and bath, then a celebratory breakfast of faraal. Diwali in Maharashtra is as much about food (chakli, chivda, karanji) as it is about lights.
The same amavasya night is Kali Puja, not Lakshmi Puja. Barasat, Dakshineswar and Tarapith run enormous Kali Puja pandals, and the rituals are Shakta rather than Vaishnav. Many Bengali households light fourteen diyas the night before, for Bhoot Chaturdashi.
Celebrated as Deepavali or Deepavali, with the ritual oil bath before sunrise as the centrepiece. Tamil households also mark it with kolam at the threshold and a new cloth gift for family members.
Deepavali is relatively low-key and mostly marked by an oil bath and sweets; Onam remains the state's major festival.
Marked as Diwali with community Banti or light displays, and in Assam it overlaps with Kati Bihu customs in some districts.
Gift categories, honestly described — not a list of sponsored products.
The safest, most expected Diwali gift in India. Choose a mixed box rather than a single sweet so it works for people who are avoiding sugar.
Suits: parents, grandparents, neighbours, colleagues
A reusable houseware gift that comes out every year, which makes it more memorable than a consumable box.
Suits: parents, in-laws, seniors
The traditional Dhanteras purchase and considered auspicious year-round as a gift.
Suits: child, newborn, couple, family
Turns a standard gift into a keepsake, and personalisation is what people actually photograph and post.
Suits: girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, husband, best friend
Practical for a household setting up its first puja shelf; buy one with a lid so the pieces store together.
Suits: parents, newly married couple, new home
For workplace gifting, an unbranded edible hamper with a printed card is safer than a logo-heavy showpiece that gets left behind.
Suits: employees, clients, boss, team
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With honest budget ranges and a difficulty rating for each.
Line the doorway, balcony edge and boundary wall with clay diyas filled with mustard oil. Keep them at least 15 cm away from curtains and rangoli powder. Use a shallow tray of sand for the floor row so hot oil cannot tip onto the ground.
Budget: ₹100–₹300
Draw a compact circular rangoli at the threshold, then walk small painted footprints inwards from the gate towards the puja room. The footprints are the Lakshmi motif and take ten minutes with a stencil.
Budget: ₹150–₹500
Alternate fresh mango leaves with marigold flowers on a jute string across the door frame. Fresh torans last four to five days; a fabric toran lasts the whole season and costs less overall.
Budget: ₹200–₹600
Cluster three sizes of paper or fabric lanterns at different heights on the balcony ceiling, on separate warm-white bulbs. Warm white (2700K) reads far more festive than cool white.
Budget: ₹300–₹1,200
Including a note on why each dish belongs to this festival.
The default Diwali prasad across most of North India — it keeps for two weeks, which is why it became the festival's standard gift sweet.
About 45 minutes
Ingredients
Crunchy savoury snack that balances all the sweets — every Diwali faral box in Maharashtra and Karnataka is built around it.
About 60 minutes
Ingredients
Every page below has its own content — we do not publish empty topic pages.
Diwali (Lakshmi Puja) falls on Sunday 8 November 2026. The five-day season runs from Dhanteras on Friday 6 November to Bhai Dooj on Wednesday 11 November. Chhath Puja follows on 15 November.
The most widely told story is Rama's return to Ayodhya after fourteen years of exile and his victory over Ravana, with the city lit to welcome him. Many communities also mark it as the night Lakshmi emerged from the churning of the ocean, and as Krishna's victory over Narakasura — which is why Naraka Chaturdashi precedes it.
Lakshmi Puja is traditionally performed during Pradosh Kaal, the window around dusk that follows sunset, with a preference for Sthir Lagna within it. The exact window shifts by city, so check the timing for your own location rather than using a national number. TyoharHub does not publish city-specific muhurat minutes because getting them wrong is worse than saying so.
The core season is five days: Dhanteras, Naraka Chaturdashi (Choti Diwali), Diwali, Govardhan Puja, and Bhai Dooj. In some regions it extends to six or seven, and Chhath Puja follows about a week later in Bihar and eastern UP.
It is a relatively modern practice rather than a scriptural one, and it is now restricted or banned in many Indian cities for air quality reasons. Check your municipal corporation's notice for the permitted hours before buying.
Yes. Bengal observes Kali Puja on the same amavasya night, Maharashtra leads with Narak Chaturdashi, and some regions celebrate a day earlier or later depending on when Amavasya begins locally. TyoharHub lists the main date and flags regional variation on each festival page.
Last reviewed 6 October 2026. This page covers a regionally specific festival — where practices differ, they are described separately rather than averaged. If you spot an error, tell us and we will correct it.