Chhath Puja Vidhi: Simple 4-Day Guide, Samagri and Arghya Steps

Celebrating Chhath Puja for the first time? You need to understand four main steps: prepare a simple meal for Nahay Khay, make Kharna prasad, take a bamboo soop of offerings for sunset arghya, and return for sunrise arghya the next morning. The difficult part for many new families is not memorising a mantra. It is knowing what to prepare, when to prepare it, and which customs to confirm with an elder before the festival starts.

Chhath Puja, also called Chhath Parv or Surya Shashthi, is dedicated to Surya Dev and Chhathi Maiya. This guide explains Chhath Puja vidhi, samagri, prasad, fasting, arghya, and how to celebrate at home in straightforward English, with familiar Hindi names beside important items. It is for people preparing alongside an experienced vrati (the person observing the fast), as well as families learning the customs for the first time.

What is Chhath Puja, and why is it celebrated?

Chhath Puja is a four-day festival of worship dedicated to Surya Dev and Chhathi Maiya. Its best-known rituals are offerings to both the setting and rising sun. Homes are cleaned, simple prasad is prepared, and relatives help the person keeping the vrat. This sequence is described by Bihar Tourism and the Government of India’s Incredible India portal. Chhathi Maiya is also honoured in family prayers and traditional songs.

The festival is especially close to families in Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Nepal Terai, but it is also celebrated in cities across India and abroad. People pray for family well-being and express gratitude through discipline, shared work and simple offerings. A vrati may be a woman or a man; relatives who are not fasting can help by washing fruit, cooking, carrying baskets, supervising children and keeping the place clean.

Chhath Puja 2026 dates: the complete four-day schedule

Drik Panchang’s 2026 calendar and Incredible India both show Chhath from 13 to 16 November 2026. Use this table to plan the household work. It is a festival calendar, not a single nationwide arghya clock time.

For an example only, Drik Panchang lists 5:28 pm as sunset in New Delhi on 15 November and 6:44 am as sunrise there on 16 November. Patna and other cities have different timings. Check the city-selected Panchang calendar before travelling. The exact ghat entry route and opening arrangements must come from the local administration.

Before Chhath Puja: what should a family prepare?

Start two or three days early. First decide who is observing the vrat and who will do the shopping, cooking, cleaning and travel arrangements. Ask an experienced person in the family about its particular prasad rules, number of soops and any vows. For example, if a grandmother is keeping the vrat, another adult can take responsibility for washing fruit and packing the basket while someone else checks the ghat route. That is practical help, not a change to the ritual.

• Two or three days before: inspect the stove and utensils, check the baskets, make the samagri list, arrange seasonal fruit and verify the nearby designated ghat.
• Before Nahay Khay: clean the kitchen, puja area and storage space; set aside clean containers for prasad ingredients and drinking water for non-fasting family members.
• Before Kharna: prepare the items for rice kheer and roti; decide who can help with cooking and cleanup so the vrati is not carrying every chore.
• Before Sandhya Arghya: finish thekua and the other prasad, wash and dry fruit, arrange soops, check the local sunset, and decide how everyone will travel safely.
• Before Usha Arghya: keep the baskets organised overnight, check the next morning’s sunrise, charge a torch and phone, and lay out warm, dry clothing.

A useful division of work: one adult handles the cooking, another arranges the soop, another checks transport and the ghat, and someone is responsible for children and older relatives. A celebration can be traditional and still be thoughtfully organised.

Chhath Puja samagri list: essential and optional items

Below is a practical shopping checklist, not a rule that every family must purchase every item. Quantities depend on your household, number of baskets, vows and local custom. A bamboo soop is a flat woven tray for the offerings; a daura or dala is the larger basket used to carry them.

1. Puja baskets, vessels and lamps

• Bamboo soop or sup (बांस का सूप), and a larger daura/dala (दौरा/डाला)
• A clean lota or small vessel for arghya water; many families also use some milk
• Clean cloth for carrying or covering offerings
• Clay diyas, wicks and ghee or oil, if used in your family
• Traditional puja items such as sindoor, roli, akshat (rice), incense, flowers, betel leaf or betel nut according to custom

2. Fruits and produce for the soop

• Bananas and a whole coconut, traditionally often with husk
• Sugarcane stalks (गन्ना)
• Local, fresh seasonal fruit such as oranges, sweet lime, guava, apples or large citrus fruit
• Singhara or water chestnuts (सिंघाड़ा), sweet potato (शकरकंद) or suthni where traditionally used
• Radish with leaves, fresh turmeric and ginger plants where your family includes them

3. Ingredients for Nahay Khay, Kharna and prasad

• Rice, chana dal and lauki or kaddu for the simple Nahay Khay meal
• Milk, rice and jaggery for Kharna kheer, often called rasiyav or rasiya
• Whole wheat flour, jaggery or sugar, ghee and optional fennel for thekua
• Ingredients for additional family prasad such as kasar or rice laddoos if part of your tradition
• Fresh potable water for cooking, washing and the arghya vessel

4. Only if your household observes the custom

Some families arrange a Kosi with sugarcane stalks, lamps and baskets of prasad on the third evening. It can be connected to a particular family vow or tradition; it is not a shopping requirement for every household. The clothing, number of baskets, use of a clay stove and prasad arrangement also vary. Ask before buying expensive or difficult-to-find items.

Chhath Puja vidhi step by step: what to do on each day

Day 1: Nahay Khay (13 November) — clean, bathe and prepare the first meal

Nahay Khay literally joins the ideas of bathing and eating. Families begin by cleaning the home and kitchen. The vrati bathes; where a safe, authorised river bath is part of local tradition, families may visit it, while others bathe at home. Do not enter unsafe water just because a ritual is associated with a river.

• Wear clean clothes and prepare a clean cooking area.
• Cook the household’s traditional simple, satvik meal. In many Bihar and eastern UP homes this includes rice, chana dal and lauki/kaddu, prepared without onion or garlic.
• Follow your family’s practice for when and how the vrati eats. Avoid assuming that every region follows the same exact menu or quantity.
• Prepare tomorrow’s Kharna ingredients, wash utensils and keep the kitchen organised.

What a beginner should remember: the point of the first day is a careful beginning. You do not need a complicated decoration to keep the home clean, make a simple meal and help the person observing the vrat.

Day 2: Kharna or Lohanda (14 November) — make kheer and roti prasad

On Kharna, the vrati traditionally observes a daytime fast. In the evening, after the family’s worship and food offering, jaggery-rice kheer and roti are commonly taken as prasad. Family members and neighbours may then share it. Bihar Tourism describes the fast being broken in the evening and rice pudding being distributed.

• Clean the cooking space and prepare the ingredients in advance.
• Cook the kheer and roti as your household has traditionally done.
• Offer the prepared prasad in the family’s customary manner; ask an experienced relative about any prayers, vessels or sequence.
• Once the vrati has taken Kharna prasad, family and neighbours may share the remainder.
• In many households, the demanding, approximately 36-hour nirjala (without water) observance begins after Kharna and ends after the fourth morning’s arghya. It is physically strenuous and not medically appropriate for everyone.

Do not insist that a person who is pregnant, unwell, has diabetes or kidney disease, or takes medicines must attempt a waterless fast. Discuss the plan with a healthcare professional and a knowledgeable family member. A family can help with prayer, food, cleaning and the journey without undertaking a medically unsafe fast.

Day 3: Sandhya Arghya (15 November) — offer thanks to the setting sun

On the third day, families make thekua and other traditional prasad, wash and arrange the fruit and carry the prepared soops in a daura to the designated ghat. At sunset, the vrati offers arghya to Surya Dev. You may hear Chhathi Maiya songs as relatives stand beside the vrati and help carry the offerings.

• Place fresh fruit, thekua and other prasad neatly in the clean soop; follow the number and arrangement used by your family.
• Check the correct local sunset time and the authorised ghat route before leaving.
• Reach the safe designated spot with time to spare. Keep children away from slippery steps and deep water.
• The vrati traditionally faces the setting sun while a relative can assist with the soop or lota. Water, and in some traditions milk, is offered as arghya while prayers are said.
• After the offering, return safely, keep the prasad and soops protected, and prepare for the next dawn.

Some families perform Kosi with sugarcane and diyas that evening. Others do not. Treat it as a household custom, not an essential step to add at the last minute. Keep flames away from clothes and use a safe, permitted place for lamps.

Day 4: Usha Arghya (16 November) — pray at sunrise and complete Parana

Wake early, recheck the sunrise time and return to the safe designated place. The family brings the offerings again. The vrati offers arghya to the rising sun, completing the distinctive pair of evening and morning worship. After the family’s final prayers, the vrat concludes with Parana (breaking the fast) and prasad is shared with relatives and neighbours.

Help the vrati return to a dry, comfortable place afterward. If they feel faint, confused or unwell, respond to their health needs promptly; no person should delay urgent care for the sake of completing a ritual.

Simple prasad preparation: Kharna kheer and thekua

These are easy cooking explanations for a beginner. They are not claims that every family uses the same measurements. If a relative has an established recipe, follow that one for puja prasad. Keep utensils and ingredients clean and prepare items on the day preferred in your household.

How to make simple Kharna kheer (rasiyav)

A common method uses milk, rice and jaggery. Wash a small amount of rice, cook it slowly in milk until tender and creamy, then add jaggery carefully according to your home recipe. Many cooks let the cooked milk mixture cool slightly before adding jaggery to reduce curdling. Prepare plain roti separately. Some families use water-based preparations or different vessels; the method is part of local tradition.

How to make thekua in five easy steps

1. Put whole wheat flour in a clean bowl. Add a little ghee and, if your family uses it, fennel or grated coconut.
2. Dissolve jaggery in a small quantity of water, strain if needed and let it cool. Some households use sugar instead.
3. Slowly combine the liquid with the flour to make a fairly firm dough; do not make it runny.
4. Shape small pieces by hand or press them gently against a traditional thekua mould.
5. Fry carefully over medium-to-low heat until cooked through and golden brown. Allow to cool before placing them in the soop.

Use adult supervision around hot oil. In families that do not taste puja prasad before offering it, a cook should rely on familiar ingredients, clean methods and a trusted family recipe. Extra varieties such as kasar or ladua can be made if they are part of your household’s usual offering; they are not compulsory for all readers.

How to offer Chhath Puja arghya, in simple steps

Arghya is the offering made in honour of the Sun. In a common Chhath practice, the vrati stands at a permitted shallow water-side place holding a prepared soop, while another relative helps offer water from a lota. The evening arghya faces the setting sun, and the next morning’s arghya faces the rising sun. Different families may use milk as well, say different prayers or arrange the soops differently.

1. Check the time: use sunset for Sandhya Arghya and sunrise for Usha Arghya in your actual city.
2. Choose a safe spot: use only a permitted ghat, marked shallow area or suitable household arrangement. Never cross a barrier.
3. Arrange the soop: clean fruit, thekua, coconut and the household’s other prasad should be secure in the tray or basket.
4. Face the sun: the vrati holds the soop respectfully; a family member can assist with the lota and pour a small offering of clean water as locally practised.
5. Pray: offer a quiet prayer to Surya Dev and Chhathi Maiya, or sing the family’s traditional song. No one phrase is required in every household.
6. Finish without rushing: help the vrati away from the water carefully, extinguish lamps where appropriate and keep the ghat clean.

A short invocation often used in Surya worship is “ॐ सूर्याय नमः” (Om Suryaya Namah), meaning a respectful salutation to the Sun. Chhath also has its own rich local songs and prayers. If you are unsure of a mantra or how many times to offer water, follow the form taught in your family rather than presenting an invented fixed count as a rule.

Can you celebrate Chhath Puja at home without a river or ghat?

If your family cannot reach a permitted, safe river ghat, ask the vrati and an experienced elder whether a clean household arrangement is acceptable in your tradition. Families living away from rivers sometimes use a courtyard or terrace and a small, temporary water container. This is a practical adaptation, not a claim that every family regards it as identical to worship at a ghat. Safety matters wherever the puja is held.

• Choose a stable, clean, non-slippery surface with an open view of the relevant sunrise or sunset if possible.
• If using a tub or basin, keep it shallow and secure; avoid electrical cables, rooftop edges and children playing near water.
• Prepare the same clean offerings and soops your family ordinarily uses. Keep the arghya water in a separate clean vessel.
• Ask for help so the vrati does not carry heavy water containers or stand unsupported.
• Collect and dispose of water and leftover materials responsibly afterward. Never pour cooking oil, detergent or waste into drains or natural water bodies.

If a safe public ghat is available, check local instructions well before the festival. If the ghat is closed, overcrowded or unsafe, do not take risks to preserve a particular setting. The NewsThreads247 Chhath 2026 planning guide explains how to check local timings and ghat access.

Important fasting, ghat safety and cleanliness rules

Chhath is known for its demanding fast, but devotion should never be used to pressure someone into a medically unsafe practice. A waterless fast can cause dehydration. If the vrati is pregnant, elderly or unwell, has diabetes or kidney problems, or takes regular medicines, speak with a qualified clinician before attempting it. Do not alter prescribed medicine or insulin without medical advice.

Warning signs: dizziness, unusual weakness, very little or dark urine, fainting or confusion may signal a health problem. Stop the fast and seek medical help; sudden confusion or collapse needs urgent attention. The NHS dehydration guidance explains symptoms and when care is needed.

Local authorities can close or redirect a ghat if river conditions change. In November 2026, the Bihar Chief Minister’s office reported instructions to strengthen cleaning and river-flow safety arrangements for Chhath ghats. Follow current district announcements, lifeguards and barricades, not old social-media videos. For official disaster alerts, see the NDMA SACHET portal. Be cautious with lit diyas around fabric, children and crowded walkways; see our guide to safer diya placement for general fire-safety principles.

Seven common mistakes to avoid

1. Copying another city’s sunset or sunrise time.
2. Buying a long online samagri list without checking the family’s actual practice.
3. Leaving thekua, fruit washing and basket preparation until the last minute.
4. Thinking every family must observe an optional Kosi or use an identical number of soops.
5. Entering an unsafe riverbank or crossing a closed ghat barrier.
6. Pressuring someone to continue a waterless fast despite illness or warning symptoms.
7. Leaving plastic, food wrappers, lamp remains or other rubbish at a shared worship place.

Frequently asked questions about Chhath Puja

What are the main things needed for Chhath Puja?

Common items include a bamboo soop and daura, a lota, clean water, thekua, seasonal fruit, bananas, coconut, sugarcane and household puja items such as a diya. Kharna commonly uses rice, milk, jaggery and roti. The precise list follows local tradition.

Can someone celebrate Chhath Puja for the first time?

Yes. Begin by learning the four-day order and ask a knowledgeable relative or community member to explain your family’s offerings and fasting custom. Help with preparation even if you are not observing the fast.

Is a priest required for Chhath Puja?

Many families perform the household observance themselves, with the vrati leading prayers and relatives helping. Customs differ; a family may seek guidance from a priest or experienced elder if it wishes.

Which day is Kharna in 2026?

Kharna is Saturday, 14 November 2026. Sandhya Arghya follows on Sunday, 15 November, and Usha Arghya on Monday, 16 November.

Can Chhath Puja be performed without fasting?

Family members who are not fasting can still join prayers and help with cooking, baskets, travel and prasad distribution. If a person has health concerns, they should discuss the fasting decision with a clinician and family elder rather than attempting a waterless fast under pressure.

What food is offered at Kharna?

Jaggery-and-rice kheer, often called rasiyav, and roti are common Kharna foods. A family’s recipe, cooking vessel and offering sequence may be different.

Is Kosi compulsory on the third night?

No universal rule applies to every household. Bihar Tourism documents Kosi as a Chhath custom involving sugarcane and lamps; whether and how a family observes it depends on its tradition and vows.

Can we use a terrace, tub or courtyard for arghya?

Some families use a safe, clean home arrangement when a permitted ghat is not accessible. Check with your family about ritual suitability, keep containers shallow and secure, and avoid rooftop-edge and electrical hazards.

Sources and editorial notes