Chhath Puja 2026: Four Days of Devotion, and Why Thekua Is the Heart of the Prasad

Kartik ka mahina aate hi Bihar ki hawa badal jaati hai. Ghaton ki safai shuru ho jaati hai, ghar mein gehun sukhaya jaata hai, aur rasoi se gur aur ghee ki khushboo aane lagti hai. Chhath aa raha hai.

Chhath Puja is one of the oldest and most demanding festivals of Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and the Nepal Terai. It is offered to Surya Dev — the Sun — and to Chhathi Maiya, with prayers for the health, long life and wellbeing of the family. There are no idols at the centre of the ritual; there is the river, the sky, the setting and the rising sun — and the devotee (the vrati) standing in the water with folded hands.

Chhath Puja 2026 dates

Day	Date	Ritual
Day 1	Friday, 13 November 2026	Nahay Khay
Day 2	Saturday, 14 November 2026	Kharna (Lohanda)
Day 3	Sunday, 15 November 2026	Sandhya Arghya — offering to the setting sun
Day 4	Monday, 16 November 2026	Usha Arghya — offering to the rising sun, and parana

Arghya timings depend on local sunrise and sunset — please check your city’s panchang.

Day 1 — Nahay Khay: purity begins

The vrati bathes — traditionally in a river or pond — and the home is cleaned for the days ahead. A single, simple sattvic meal is eaten, commonly kaddu-bhaat (bottle-gourd sabzi with rice and chana dal), cooked without onion or garlic. From this day on, the kitchen follows the rules of purity.

Day 2 — Kharna: the sweet that begins the long fast

The vrati fasts through the day. In the evening, after worship, the fast is broken with prasad — usually gur ki kheer (rasiao) with roti or puri — which is then shared with family and neighbours. After Kharna begins the most difficult part of Chhath: a fast without food or water that lasts until the morning arghya, roughly 36 hours.

Day 3 — Sandhya Arghya: thanking the setting sun

In the evening, families walk to the ghat carrying daura and soop — bamboo baskets and winnowing trays — filled with prasad: thekua, seasonal fruits like banana, coconut and citrus, sugarcane, and diyas. Standing in the water, the vrati offers arghya to the setting sun while the ghat fills with folk songs. Very few festivals anywhere honour the setting sun — Chhath does, as a thank-you for the day that has passed.

Day 4 — Usha Arghya: welcoming the rising sun

Before dawn, everyone returns to the ghat. As the first light appears, arghya is offered to the rising sun. The vrati then breaks the fast (parana), and the prasad is distributed — to family, to neighbours, to anyone who asks. Receiving Chhath prasad is considered a blessing in itself.

Why thekua is the heart of the prasad

Every soop at the ghat has many offerings, but thekua is the one that defines Chhath. Its ingredients are as simple as the festival itself:

• Gehun ka aata — wheat flour, often from grain washed and sun-dried at home for the puja.
• Gur — jaggery, the traditional sweetener of Chhath prasad.
• Desi ghee — for frying and richness.
• Saunf and elaichi — for that unmistakable khushboo.

Each piece is pressed by hand into a wooden saancha (mould), which gives thekua its carved pattern, and then fried slowly until it is golden and crisp outside and gently soft within. In many homes the prasad is made with extra care for purity — freshly cleaned utensils, no onion or garlic in the kitchen, and the whole family pitching in. That is why thekua is never just a sweet during Chhath; it is prasad.

When you can’t be home for Chhath

For lakhs of Biharis living in Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata and beyond, Chhath is the festival that hurts the most to miss. Train tickets sell out in minutes, leave doesn’t always come through, and the ghat feels very far away.

That feeling is why Apna Swad exists. Our kitchen makes Chhath thekua the way it is made at home — gur and pure desi ghee, gehun ka aata, saunf-elaichi, pressed by hand in the saancha, cooked fresh only after you order. If you can’t go home this year, the prasad can still come home to you.

For family members who avoid sugar, we also make a sugar-free thekua sweetened only with stevia. Many devotees offer only gur thekua in the arghya, so we suggest the sugar-free pack for family eating — so that on Chhath day, nobody at home has to just watch.

Pre-orders are open

Chhath pre-orders are now open, in 800 g, 1.8 kg, 2.8 kg and 3.8 kg packs. Please order by 5 November so we can cook your batch fresh and dispatch it in time for Chhath.

👉 See the Chhath Special collection

Chhathi Maiya sabki manokamna poori karein. Jai Chhathi Maiya. 🙏

— Mallika Singh, Apna Swad kitchen