Chhath Puja 2026 dates: Sandhya Arghya November 15, UNESCO bid pending

Chhath Puja 2026, the four-day festival of worship of the Sun, runs from Friday, 13 November to Monday, 16 November, according to the schedule officials gave while announcing arrangements for the festival. The main evening offering to the setting sun, Sandhya Arghya, falls on Sunday, 15 November, and the festival ends with Usha Arghya, the offering to the rising sun, on the morning of Monday, 16 November. The festival comes this year with a bid for global recognition pending: India's nomination of Chhath Mahaparva for UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity is in the 2026-27 cycle.

Chhath is a festival of worship of the Sun, spread over four days with a fixed order of rituals. By tradition it begins with Nahay Khay and continues with Kharna, both days of purification and fasting; it reaches its peak on the third day with Sandhya Arghya, when devotees standing in rivers or ponds offer arghya (water and offerings) to the setting sun; and it ends on the fourth morning with Usha Arghya to the rising sun. Official reports of past festivals describe the third day as the main day.

Mapped onto this year's calendar, that order gives Nahay Khay on Friday, 13 November, Kharna on Saturday, 14 November, Sandhya Arghya on Sunday, 15 November and Usha Arghya on Monday, 16 November. Because the two arghyas are tied to sunset and sunrise, the exact times differ from city to city, and devotees follow their local sunrise and sunset.

The festival is observed well beyond its heartland in the east of the country. Delhi's plan for more than 1,400 ghats and a public holiday on the closing day shows its scale in the capital, and reports on the UNESCO bid say the dossier includes the consent of practitioners in India and abroad.

That spread is also at the heart of India's UNESCO nomination. The Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's national academy for music, dance and drama and the nodal agency for intangible heritage nominations, prepared the dossier, and a government release said it was submitted for the 2026-27 cycle. Reports on the process say the file includes documentation and audio-visual records along with community consent, which UNESCO requires. If inscribed, Chhath would join Indian elements such as Durga Puja in Kolkata on the Representative List.

Peepals timeline: The government said on 18 December 2025 that the Chhath Mahaparva dossier had been submitted to UNESCO for the 2026-27 cycle. On 28 October 2026, the Delhi government announced its arrangements and a public holiday on 16 November. The festival begins on 13 November and ends on 16 November 2026, while a recent report says the UNESCO Secretariat has accepted the nomination for consideration. Our timeline from the dates in the reports.

Short-term: Devotees will prepare for the four days from 13 November, and city administrations are readying ghats; in Delhi, 16 November is a public holiday. Large gatherings are expected at riverbanks and ponds on the evening of 15 November and the morning of 16 November.

Long-term: A UNESCO inscription, if it comes, would give Chhath international recognition as living heritage and commit India to safeguarding the practice. Reports differ on when UNESCO's committee will decide, so no date can yet be given.

Who is affected: Devotees in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and across India and abroad; city administrations organising ghats; and cultural institutions behind the UNESCO bid.

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