Chhath 2083 Dates — When It Falls and How It Is Kept

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Chhath dates

BS 2083

Events	BS Date	AD Date	Day
Bishwakarma Pooja / Kanya Sankranti / Wastu Diwas / Surya Sasti / National Science Day / World Patient Safety Day	1 Ashwin 2083	17 Sep 2026	Thursday
Chhath ParvaHoliday	29 Kartik 2083	15 Nov 2026	Sunday

Dates on this page are read from the Bikram Sambat calendar tables published for each year, and the public-holiday flag follows the list the Government of Nepal gazettes. Where a family's own tradition differs from the general practice described here, the family's tradition is the one that applies.

The four days

Nahay Khay to Usha Arghya

Nahay Khay opens it: the house is cleaned, the vratin bathes in the river and eats one meal of rice, bottle gourd and chana dal, cooked on a new clay stove with mango wood. Kharna, the second day, is a day-long fast broken after sunset with kheer made of jaggery and rice, roti, and fruit — and from the moment that meal ends the nirjala fast begins. It runs about thirty-six hours. On the third evening the family walks to the ghat with bamboo baskets of thekua, sugarcane and fruit, and the vratin stands in the water to give Sandhya Arghya to the setting sun. They return before dawn for Usha Arghya to the rising sun, and the fast is broken there on the bank.

Who keeps it and where

Chhath is the largest festival of the Tarai-Madhesh, kept along the Koshi, the Bagmati and every canal and pond that can hold a ghat. In Kathmandu the Bagmati ghats at Guheshwari and the ponds at Kamal Pokhari fill with Madhesi families, and the municipality cleans and lights them beforehand. Men keep the fast too, though the majority of vratins are women. There is no priest at the centre of it: the household performs its own rituals, which is part of why people describe it as the least mediated festival they keep.

Holidays and practicalities

Chhath is a public holiday in Nepal, usually one or two days around the evening arghya, and the Madhesh Province adds its own days. Expect road closures near the ghats, extra buses into the Tarai in the days before, and pressure on tickets comparable to Dashain on the eastern routes.

How the date is fixed

The main day is the shashthi of the bright fortnight of Kartik — six days after the amavasya that is Laxmi Puja — which is why Chhath always follows Tihar by the same lunar interval even though both move against the BS calendar. There is a second Chhath in Chaitra, kept by far fewer households, on the corresponding tithi in spring.

Common mistakes

Arriving at the ghat for the morning arghya at sunrise — families are in place well before first light. Bringing an offering in a plastic bag: the baskets are bamboo and the offerings are made at home, and prasad bought from a shop is not the point. And planning to drive near a ghat on the evening of Sandhya Arghya, which is when the roads close.

Questions about Chhath

How long is the Chhath fast?

About thirty-six hours without food or water, from the Kharna meal on the second evening to the morning arghya on the fourth day.

Is Chhath a public holiday?

Yes, nationally for the main day, with additional days in Madhesh Province.

Can men keep the Chhath fast?

Yes. Most vratins are women, but men keep it in many families, often after a vow.