Diwali 2026 is on 8 Nov, full 5-day calendar and plan

Diwali 2026 falls on Sunday, 8 November. That's the day of Lakshmi Puja, the main evening of worship and lamps, in most Indian calendars. The wider festival runs for five days, from Dhanteras on Friday, 6 November, to Bhai Dooj early the following week.

If you've seen a date in October online, ignore it. Last year, Diwali was on 20 October, and plenty of pages still carry 2025 dates.

Key points

• Diwali (Lakshmi Puja) 2026: Sunday, 8 November.
• Dhanteras: Friday, 6 November. Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj follow on 9 to 11 November, depending on the calendar you follow.
• Lakshmi Puja muhurat in Delhi is on the evening of 8 November; one panchang gives about 5:47 PM to 7:13 PM IST. Check your local calendar.
• London's free Diwali on the Square is on Sunday, 25 October.
• A Sunday Diwali means many families abroad can celebrate on the day itself.

Diwali 2026 date and the five-day calendar

Hindu festivals follow a lunar calendar, so their dates move every year on the Western calendar. Diwali falls on Amavasya, the new-moon night, in the month of Kartik (Ashvin in some regional calendars).

Here's the 2026 calendar, based on Drik Panchang and other panchangs (almanacs) for New Delhi:

Different panchangs place Govardhan Puja and Bhai Dooj a day apart this year, because of when the new-moon period ends. If your family follows a particular temple or almanac, go with that.

In eastern India, the same new-moon night is Kali Puja, the worship of the goddess Kali. In Tamil Nadu and parts of the south, Deepavali celebrations centre on Naraka Chaturdashi morning, with an oil bath before dawn.

Diwali isn't only a Hindu festival. Sikhs mark the same days as Bandi Chhor Divas, remembering the release of Guru Hargobind, the sixth Sikh Guru, from imprisonment in Gwalior Fort; the Golden Temple in Amritsar is lit up for the occasion. Jains observe Diwali as the day Mahavira, the 24th Tirthankara, attained nirvana, and many start their new year the next day. That's why public Diwali events abroad, such as London's, often feature Hindu, Sikh and Jain performers side by side.

Lakshmi Puja 2026 timing

The puja is usually done in the evening, during a window called the Pradosh Kaal, after sunset. One widely used online panchang, Dekho Panchang, gives about 5:47 PM to 7:13 PM IST for Delhi on 8 November, with later windows for Mumbai and earlier ones for Kolkata, because sunset times differ. Other calendars give slightly different times.

Abroad, the timing is calculated for your own city's sunset, not India's. Many diaspora temples publish local timings; check theirs.

7 ways to plan Diwali 2026

1. Book train and flight tickets now

Diwali is one of India's busiest travel weeks. Indian Railways opens reservations 60 days before the journey date, so trains for the first week of November opened for booking in early September, and many popular routes are already full. Tatkal (last-minute quota) tickets open one day before travel. Flights for 5 to 7 November usually get expensive the closer you get. If you're coming from abroad, Diwali on a Sunday means the Friday and Monday around it will be the busiest days to fly.

2. Check the air quality and firecracker rules where you'll be

Air quality in north Indian cities, especially Delhi-NCR, tends to be at its worst in early November, when festival smoke adds to crop-burning and winter weather. Courts and state governments have restricted firecrackers in some cities in recent years, and the rules can change close to the festival. Check your city's current orders before buying any.

3. Buy sweets from licensed shops

Demand for milk-based sweets jumps at Diwali, and state food safety teams typically step up checks for adulteration in the weeks before the festival. Buy from shops that display an FSSAI (food safety) licence number, check dates on boxed sweets, and keep milk sweets refrigerated.

4. Plan around the work week abroad

Diwali on a Sunday is good news for families abroad. In New York City, public schools close for Diwali under a state law that's been in effect since the 2024-25 school year; with Diwali on a Sunday this year, check the city's 2026-27 school calendar for how it's observed. California law has, since 1 January 2026, allowed schools and community colleges to close for Diwali, though each district decides. Elsewhere, you may need to plan Lakshmi Puja around work on Monday.

5. Go to a public celebration

Big public Diwali events are now common outside India. In London, the Mayor's free Diwali on the Square festival in Trafalgar Square is on Sunday, 25 October 2026, from 1 PM to 7 PM, with dance, music and food stalls, and no booking needed. Leicester's celebrations on Belgrave Road, known as the Golden Mile, are among the biggest outside India; check Leicester City Council's website for this year's lights and events. Singapore's Little India, Kuala Lumpur, Durban, Port Louis and Port of Spain all hold large celebrations too.

6. Know where it's a public holiday

Diwali is a public holiday in India and in several countries with large Hindu populations, including Nepal (where it's called Tihar), Mauritius, Fiji, Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. If you're travelling over Diwali, expect closed offices and busy markets in those places, too.

7. Catch the big Diwali film releases early

Cinemas fill up over the festival weekend. This year, Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana Part 1 opens worldwide on Thursday, 5 November, with advance booking reported to open on Dussehra. Diwali, in much of north India, marks Ram's return to Ayodhya, so expect strong demand.

Why it matters: Diwali is the biggest festival on the Indian calendar and, for India's economy, the peak shopping season of the year. For the roughly 35 million people of Indian origin living abroad, it's also the one festival that their neighbours, schools and employers increasingly recognise. Getting the date right is the first step.

Why the Diwali date confuses people

Three things cause the confusion. First, the lunar calendar shifts the date by up to about three weeks from one year to the next. Second, a new-moon period can straddle two days, so almanacs that calculate it differently can disagree on whether a festival falls on one day or the next. Third, search results often surface old pages: plenty of articles still show Diwali "on Monday, 20 October", which was correct for 2025.

The fix is simple. For 2026, Lakshmi Puja is on Sunday, 8 November, in the major almanacs we checked. For the days around it, follow your own family's or temple's calendar.

Lamps are the same everywhere: a small flame against a dark night. Whether you light yours in Varanasi, Wembley or New Jersey, the date to put in the calendar now is 8 November.