Chhath Puja 2026 in the USA: Dates, Sandhya and Usha Arghya Times for US Cities

Chhath is the one festival where you pray to the Sun as it sets and again as it rises, standing in water with a soop full of thekua and fruit. If you're keeping it in the US or Canada this year, the good news is simple: your dates are the same as India's. What changes is the clock, so here are the arghya times for your city.

Chhath Puja 2026 dates (USA, Canada and India)

These are the dates Drik Panchang gives for both New York and New Delhi.

Shashthi tithi times

Chhath is Kartika Shukla Shashthi, the 6th lunar day of the waxing Moon (the Moon 60° to 72° ahead of the Sun). Computing it with the NASA JPL DE421 ephemeris, the same engine behind our free Vedic birth chart:

Our New York and New Delhi times match Drik Panchang's (12:53 PM Nov 14 to 3:30 PM Nov 15 in New York) within a minute.

Why Sunday and not Saturday in the US? You may notice that in North America Shashthi ends on Sunday afternoon, before sunset. The Panchang day runs from sunrise to sunrise, and Shashthi is the tithi at Sunday's sunrise, so Sunday is Chhath day here too. That's how Drik Panchang lists New York, and it's how most US and Canadian Chhath samitis plan their ghats, keeping the whole community on one date with family in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern UP and Nepal.

Sandhya and Usha Arghya times for US and Canadian cities

The arghya is offered as the Sun touches the horizon, so the time to know is sunset on Sunday and sunrise on Monday. Clocks will already have fallen back (November 1), so these are standard time. Get to the water 20 to 30 minutes early.

Drik Panchang gives 4:38 PM and 6:44 AM for New York, within a minute of ours. Times are for the city center at sea level; a ghat with an open western or eastern horizon (a lake or beach) will see the Sun a minute or two either side.

No river nearby? Many US families use a lake, a beach, a community pool booked by the local samiti, or a tub or large basin on the balcony or in the backyard. The arghya is the offering of water and milk to Surya with folded hands and a full heart; the setting can be humble.

How the four days go

1. Nahay Khay (Fri Nov 13): bathe early, clean the kitchen, and cook one meal without onion or garlic, traditionally lauki (bottle gourd), chana dal and rice in ghee, eaten once.
2. Kharna (Sat Nov 14): fast through the day, then after sunset offer and eat rasiao-kheer (rice cooked in jaggery and milk) with roti. From here the vrati keeps a nirjala fast, without water, until Monday's arghya.
3. Sandhya Arghya (Sun Nov 15): carry the daura and soop (bamboo baskets) with thekua, sugarcane, banana, coconut, citrus and a diya to the water, and offer arghya as the Sun sets. Many families sing Chhath geet through the evening and keep a kosi (a canopy of sugarcane with lamps) at home.
4. Usha Arghya and Parana (Mon Nov 16): return before dawn, offer arghya as the Sun rises, take prasad, and break the fast with ginger and water, then the thekua.

If you have a weekday morning commute, Monday's sunrise arghya is early enough in most cities to make it to work, and many US samitis hold it before 7:15 AM for exactly that reason.

The astrology of Chhath Puja 2026

Chhath is Sun worship, so the Sun's position matters, and this year it's special. I calculated the sidereal (Lahiri) positions:

• The Sun is at the last degree of Libra during Sunday's Sandhya Arghya and enters Scorpio on Monday, November 16 (Vrishchika Sankranti, about 9:04 AM Eastern / 6:04 AM Pacific / 7:34 PM IST). So the evening arghya is offered to the Sun in Libra, its sign of debilitation, and the morning arghya greets a Sun on the very edge of a new sign. On the West Coast it has already crossed into Scorpio by Monday's sunrise (6:26 AM in Los Angeles); in the East it crosses a couple of hours after the arghya. Bowing to the weakened, setting Sun and then to the reborn rising Sun is the whole philosophy of Chhath in one sky.
• The Moon is in Capricorn, in Shravana nakshatra during the evening arghya in North America, the star of listening and of devotion. (In India it's in Uttara Ashadha, the Sun's own nakshatra, at sunset.)
• Jupiter and Mars are together in Leo, the Sun's own sign: Jupiter entered on October 30/31 and Mars joined on November 12, so mid-November carries a Guru-Mangal combination in the Sun's house. See Jupiter in Leo 2026 by Moon sign.

My reading: Chhath 2026 is a strong year to pray for health, the father, and authority you've been waiting to step into, all things the Sun rules. If your Sun is weak in your birth chart, or you're running a Sun period (Sun mahadasha guide), this is your festival.

Frequently asked questions

When is Chhath Puja 2026 in the USA?

Friday November 13 (Nahay Khay) to Monday November 16 (Usha Arghya), with the main evening arghya on Sunday, November 15. These are the same dates as India.

What time is Sandhya Arghya in New York and New Jersey?

About 4:37 PM in New York and 4:40 PM in central New Jersey on Sunday, November 15. Usha Arghya on Monday, November 16 is about 6:44 AM in New York and 6:45 AM in Edison.

What time is Chhath arghya in California and Texas?

Sunday evening: about 4:49 PM in Los Angeles, 4:56 PM in the Bay Area, 5:25 PM in Houston and Dallas. Monday morning: 6:26 AM in Los Angeles, 6:48 AM in the Bay Area, 6:47 AM in Houston and 6:58 AM in Dallas.

Is Chhath on the same day in the US and India this year?

Yes. Unlike Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj, which come a day earlier in North America this year (Bhai Dooj 2026 USA), Chhath falls on November 13 to 16 in both places.

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