Chhath Puja 2026: How the Four Days Are Celebrated, From Nahay Khay to Usha Arghya

Stand at a Janakpur pond on the evening of Chhath and the first thing you notice is the sound. Hundreds of women singing the same old songs in Maithili and Bhojpuri, men walking barefoot with bamboo baskets on their heads, children holding clay lamps, and somewhere a loudspeaker playing a voice every family here knows by heart. Then the sun drops toward the horizon, the singing gets louder, and thousands of people step into the water at once.

Chhath is a festival for the sun. It asks for nothing grand, no idol and no priest, just clean water, a careful fast, and a family willing to carry baskets to the ghat. It is also one of the most demanding festivals in South Asia: the person keeping the fast goes without food or water for roughly 36 hours. This guide walks through the four days of Chhath as Nepal celebrates them, what each ritual means, and, briefly, where to go if you want to be there.

Quick answer: Chhath Puja 2026 runs from Friday 13 November (Nahay Khay) to Monday 16 November (Usha Arghya). The main evening offering to the setting sun, Sandhya Arghya, is on Sunday 15 November, which is a public holiday in Nepal.

Chhath Puja 2026 Dates

In Kathmandu, sunset falls at about 5:12 PM and sunrise at about 6:25 AM on the main days, though the hills hide the sun a little earlier in the evening and reveal it a little later at dawn. Sunday 15 November is a national public holiday. Madhesh Province has added an extra provincial holiday in recent years, so watch for that announcement.

What Chhath Is About

Chhath honours Surya, the sun, and Chhathi Maiya, the mother goddess who is believed to protect children. Families keep the fast to thank the sun for life and harvest, and to pray for the health of their children and the wellbeing of the household.

It is the great festival of Nepal's Mithila, Bhojpuri and Awadhi belt across the Terai, and of neighbouring Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh in India. In recent years it has also grown in Kathmandu, where Kamalpokhari and the Bagmati at Gaurighat now fill with devotees, and families from the hills increasingly join in.

The person who keeps the fast is called the vrati. Most are women, often mothers, but men keep the fast too. What makes Chhath unusual is how direct it is. There is no temple in the middle of it. The devotee stands in the water and makes the offering to the sun with their own hands.

Before Chhath: Cleaning Ghats and Filling Baskets

Preparation starts the moment Tihar ends. In Mithila, the shopping often begins on Bhardutiya, the local name for Bhai Tika (our guide to Bhai Tika rituals explains how it is celebrated). Neighbourhood committees clean ponds and riverbanks, paint the ghat steps, and mark out spaces for each family. Markets in Janakpur, Birgunj and Rajbiraj fill with sugarcane stalks, bamboo baskets (daura or dhaki) and flat winnowing trays (soop), clay lamps, coconuts, bananas, and whole turmeric and ginger plants with the leaves still on.

Homes are cleaned top to bottom, and cooking for the festival moves to a separate, purified corner of the kitchen. Many families make their prasad on a fresh clay stove. Nothing about Chhath is allowed to be careless.

Chhath Day by Day

Day 1: Nahay Khay (Bath and Pure Meal)

Nahay Khay literally means "bathe and eat". On Friday 13 November, the vrati takes a holy bath in a river or pond, and then eats a single pure meal, usually arwa rice, chana dal and lauki (bottle gourd), cooked without onion or garlic and with rock salt. Many families call it kaddu-bhat. The rest of the household eats only after the vrati has eaten.

Day 2: Kharna (The Fast Begins)

On Saturday 14 November, the vrati fasts from sunrise to sunset without food or water. At dusk comes the Kharna puja: kheer made with rice, milk and jaggery, often called rasiao, with roti or puri, offered first to Chhathi Maiya. The vrati eats this prasad in quiet, then shares it with family and neighbours who come to the house.

From that moment, the hardest part begins: a nirjala fast, with no food and no water, that lasts until sunrise on Day 4. The same evening, in many Mithila homes, sisters begin Sama-Chakeva, a separate festival of prayers for their brothers that runs until the full moon.

Day 3: Sandhya Arghya (Offering to the Setting Sun)

Sunday 15 November is the main day. In the afternoon, families walk to the ghat in procession. Men usually carry the daura on their heads, filled with the offerings, and women follow singing. The vrati wears new clothes, traditionally a yellow or red sari for women.

At the water's edge, the vrati steps in up to the waist and faces west. As the sun sets, they raise the soop, a bamboo tray piled with thekua, bananas, sugarcane, coconut, sweet potato, seasonal fruit and lamps, while family members pour milk or water as an offering, called arghya. All around, thousands of people do the same thing at the same moment. Then lamps are floated on the water, and the pond turns gold.

In many families, the night that follows is for Kosi bharna. Stalks of sugarcane are tied together into a small canopy at home or at the ghat, and clay vessels (kosiya), lamps and a clay elephant (hathi) are arranged underneath. Families sit up singing, keeping the vrati company through the hungriest night of the festival.

Day 4: Usha Arghya (Offering to the Rising Sun)

Long before dawn on Monday 16 November, families return to the ghat, often walking in the dark with lamps. The vrati steps into the cold water again, this time facing east, and waits for the sun. When it appears over the horizon, the second arghya is offered.

Then comes paran, the breaking of the fast. The vrati drinks water for the first time in about 36 hours, usually with a little ginger or prasad, and blesses the family. Thekua and fruit are handed out at the ghat to anyone nearby. If you are standing close, you will be given some. Take it with both hands.

Thekua: The Taste of Chhath

If Tihar runs on sel roti, Chhath runs on thekua. It is a crisp, slightly sweet cake of wheat flour, jaggery and ghee, pressed in a wooden mould so it carries a pattern, then fried. Every vrati's family makes huge batches, and it lasts for days, which is part of the point. You will also see bhusuwa (a sweet made from roasted flour), puri, kheer, and baskets of bananas, sugarcane and citrus.

Everything offered at Chhath is simple and seasonal: the harvest of late autumn, offered back to the sun that grew it.

The Songs of Chhath

You cannot separate Chhath from its music. Women sing traditional songs in Maithili, Bhojpuri and Nepali on the way to the ghat, in the water and through the night. Many are about the vrati's devotion, the bamboo baskets, the river and the sun's slow rise. In homes and at ghats across the Terai, the recordings of the late Sharda Sinha, whose voice became almost inseparable from the festival, still play every year.

Visiting a Chhath Ghat: A Few Courtesies

Visitors are welcome at most ghats, and families are often happy to explain what is happening. A few simple courtesies go a long way:

• Give the vrati space. They are fasting without water and standing in cold water for long stretches.

• Never touch the offerings, the soop or the daura.

• Ask before photographing people, especially at the moment of arghya.

• Dress modestly, and take your shoes off where others do.

• Do not throw anything into the water, and carry your rubbish back with you.

• Arrive early for the evening arghya. The best spots fill an hour before sunset.

Where Chhath Is Celebrated in Nepal (and How to Get There)

Chhath is celebrated wherever Terai families live, but a few places stand out. Here is a quick look at the main ones and how long the bus journey takes from Kathmandu. For a full guide to each site, see our post on the most beautiful Chhath ghats in Nepal.

Fares change with coach type and festival demand, so check live prices before you travel. Day microbuses and night sofa coaches run on most of these routes. Our Janakpur to Kathmandu bus guide have more detail on this corridors.

One timing tip: Bhai Tika is on 11 November and Nahay Khay on 13 November, so 12 November is the main travel day for families heading south, and seats go fast. For the return, plan for the afternoon of 16 November or the 17th, after Usha Arghya.

Explore Nepal with GoMyGo

Chhath brings people home to the Terai in a way few festivals can. Students, workers and whole families leave Kathmandu for Janakpur, Birgunj, Rajbiraj and Biratnagar in the same few days, and many come back just as quickly once the fast is broken.

You can compare departures, coach types and live fares on the GoMyGo website, or book on the go with the GoMyGo App for Android and iOS. Seeing seat availability early matters most in a week like this, when Bhai Tika and Chhath fall almost back to back.

For now, payments work through fonePay and ConnectIPS for travellers in Nepal, PayPal for international travellers, and Indian UPI for families travelling from India, many of whom celebrate Chhath on both sides of the border.

Your ticket is confirmed instantly by email and SMS, and 24/7 WhatsApp support is available at +977 9704-666777 if anything changes on the road.

Final Words

Chhath asks a great deal of the person who keeps it, and almost nothing of anyone else except that they show up: carry a basket, hold a lamp, sing a little, and stand by the water while the sun goes down and comes back up. It is a festival about trust, that the sun will rise, and that family will be there when it does.

Jai Chhathi Maiya.