Saath Catalogue

Chhath Puja

Published 2026-09-04 · region: pan-Hindu · Saath Catalogue

Calendar timing

Oct-Nov (Lunar (Kartik Shukla 6))

  • 2026 · 2026-11-14 (scholar-2026-06-23)

Stories & history

The setting sun firstHindi Belt

Chhath is the one major observance that offers to the setting sun before the rising one. The evening arghya comes first and the morning arghya the next day, and the order is the point: the tradition thanks the sun on its way down before asking anything of it coming up. People who keep the festival will tell you that is the whole of what it means.

No priest, no imageHindi Belt

There is no purohit, no temple and no image. The vratin stands in the water and makes the offering directly, and the family carries the baskets and stands on the bank. Among all the major festivals this is the one with the least machinery between the person and what they are offering to, which is why it is described as the strictest and also as the plainest.

Symbolism & meaning

Core symbolism
Four days for Surya and Chhathi Maiya — offerings made standing in water to the setting sun, and again the next morning to the rising one.
Meaning
Four days from the fourth to the seventh of Kartika's bright fortnight. Nahay Khay opens it with a bath and a single simple meal; Kharna is a day's fast broken at dusk with kheer and roti, after which the fast resumes without water for around thirty-six hours; on the third evening the household walks to the river with baskets of thekua, fruit and sugarcane, and the vratin stands in the water to offer arghya to the setting sun; the next morning the same is offered to the sun rising, and the fast is broken. There is no priest and no image in any of it.

Regional variants

  • N-Indian Hindi-beltSeparate regional entry. · published 2026-09-04

Procedure

  1. Nahay Khay. The household bathes, the kitchen is scrubbed, and a single simple meal is cooked and eaten — commonly gourd with gram dal and rice.
  2. Kharna. A fast is kept all day and broken at dusk with kheer and roti, after which the waterless fast begins.
  3. Preparing the offerings. Thekua and other offerings are made at home under strict cleanliness, and packed into bamboo baskets.
  4. Sandhya Arghya. The family walks to the river at evening and the vratin stands in the water to offer arghya to the setting sun.
  5. Usha Arghya. Before dawn the family returns and arghya is offered to the rising sun, after which the fast is broken.

Materials needed

  • Bamboo baskets — soop and daura
  • Thekua, and the other offerings made at home
  • Sugarcane, and the seasonal fruit of the region
  • Earthen lamps and vermilion
  • New clothes, unstitched in most households
  • A vessel for the arghya

Family participation

  • Keeps the fast and offers the arghya standing in the water — Vratin — commonly a married woman, and in many families a man
  • Carry the baskets to the river and stand with the vratin — Members of the household
  • Prepare the offerings under the required cleanliness — Women of the household

Image: Unsplash/Pexels/Pixabay: No (recommended). Wikimedia/Google-CC: Yes (CC-BY-SA: name photographer + link).

From the Saath Catalogue — occasions documented for families, with regional tradition attribution.