Festivals · Lahiri sidereal
Hindu festival dates 2026 to 2028
Seventeen festivals with their dates for 2026, 2027, 2028 and muhurat times for your city, calculated from the sky on the Lahiri sidereal zodiac. Each page states the rule behind its date.
How festival dates are fixed
Most Hindu festivals follow the Moon. A tithi is one thirtieth of the lunar month, the time the Moon takes to gain 12° on the Sun, and a festival names a tithi, a lunar month and the part of the day in which that tithi must be present: sunrise, midday, the afternoon, the evening after sunset (Pradosh), midnight (Nishita) or moonrise. The month is named from the Sun’s sidereal sign at the new moon, which is why a festival moves by a few weeks against the Gregorian calendar from one year to the next. An extra, adhika month is added about every three years to bring the lunar calendar back in step with the seasons.
Why a date can differ from your calendar
A tithi can start or end a few hours either side of sunrise or sunset, and a city a few hundred kilometres away meets those moments at a different clock time. When a tithi starts or ends close to the time of day a rule uses, two cities can keep the festival on different days. Other causes are Bhadra, a karana avoided for lighting the Holika fire or tying a rakhi; the Smarta and Vaishnava traditions, which sometimes choose different days; and the two month names. The amanta calendars of the south and west end a month at the new moon and the purnimanta calendars of the north end it at the full moon, so Diwali is in Ashwina in one and in Kartika in the other, on the same night.
Calculated, not copied
Every date and time on these pages is calculated for a chosen city with the astronomy-engine library on the Lahiri sidereal zodiac, and the rule used for each festival is written on its own page. The 2026 results were checked against widely published calendars. Where a rule leaves a real choice, the page says so. Open a festival to pick your city; the table below is for Chandigarh.
| Festival | 2026 | 2027 | 2028 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Makar Sankranti | 14 Jan (Wed) | 15 Jan (Fri) | 15 Jan (Sat) |
| Maha Shivratri | 15 Feb (Sun) | 6 Mar (Sat) | 23 Feb (Wed) |
| Holi | 4 Mar (Wed) | 22 Mar (Mon) | 11 Mar (Sat) |
| Ugadi / Gudi Padwa | 19 Mar (Thu) | 7 Apr (Wed) | 27 Mar (Mon) |
| Ram Navami | 26 Mar (Thu) | 15 Apr (Thu) | 3 Apr (Mon) |
| Akshaya Tritiya | 19 Apr (Sun) | 9 May (Sun) | 27 Apr (Thu) |
| Guru Purnima | 29 Jul (Wed) | 18 Jul (Sun) | 6 Jul (Thu) |
| Raksha Bandhan | 28 Aug (Fri) | 17 Aug (Tue) | 5 Aug (Sat) |
| Janmashtami | 4 Sep (Fri) | 24 Aug (Tue) | 13 Aug (Sun) |
| Ganesh Chaturthi | 14 Sep (Mon) | 4 Sep (Sat) | 23 Aug (Wed) |
| Sharad Navratri | 11 Oct (Sun) | 30 Sep (Thu) | 19 Sep (Tue) |
| Dussehra (Vijayadashami) | 20 Oct (Tue) | 9 Oct (Sat) | 27 Sep (Wed) |
| Karwa Chauth | 29 Oct (Thu) | 18 Oct (Mon) | 7 Oct (Sat) |
| Dhanteras | 6 Nov (Fri) | 27 Oct (Wed) | 15 Oct (Sun) |
| Diwali (Deepavali) | 8 Nov (Sun) | 29 Oct (Fri) | 17 Oct (Tue) |
| Bhai Dooj | 11 Nov (Wed) | 31 Oct (Sun) | 19 Oct (Thu) |
| Chhath Puja | 15 Nov (Sun) | 4 Nov (Thu) | 23 Oct (Mon) |
Holi is shown on the day of colours; Holika Dahan is the evening before. Makar Sankranti is solar and keeps the same date from year to year within a day. Times of day are on each festival’s page.
Questions people ask
Why do festival dates differ between websites?
Mostly because of the city and the day-part rule. A tithi that ends shortly after sunrise, or begins shortly before sunset, can belong to different days in different places, and calendars also differ on Smarta and Vaishnava practice. Here every page names its rule and its city.
What is the difference between amanta and purnimanta?
Amanta months end at the new moon, purnimanta months at the full moon. The two agree for the bright fortnight and differ in the dark fortnight by one month name, so Karwa Chauth is in Ashwina by amanta and in Kartika by purnimanta. The night and the sky are the same.
What is a muhurat?
A muhurat is a time window that the texts prefer for a rite. For some festivals it is a part of the day (midday, afternoon, midnight); for Diwali and Dhanteras it is the part of the evening in which Vrishabha, a fixed sign, is rising. It is guidance for planning a puja, not a requirement.
Are the times for my city?
Each festival page has a city selector with 66 cities in India and abroad, and the tables show times in that city’s own time zone. The default is Chandigarh. If your city is not listed, choose the nearest one; sunrise moves by about four minutes for every degree of longitude.
Can I share a muhurat?
The app has a share card for the Diwali Lakshmi Puja muhurat today. Cards for the other festivals are coming.
Which zodiac and ayanamsa do you use?
The sidereal zodiac with the Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa, about 24°14′ in October 2026, on every page. The tithi itself depends only on the angle between the Moon and the Sun, but the month name depends on the Sun’s sidereal sign at the new moon.
Every position on this page is calculated sidereal with the Lahiri ayanamsa from the astronomy-engine library (MIT licence). The classical texts describe tendencies; this page is for guidance and reflection, not a verdict, and no outcome is promised. How we calculate. This is the English page and the legal reference. The same page is available in Hindi. Checked October 2026.