Surya & Chhathi Maiya · Four days; the great fast spans 36 hours
Chhath — the four days of the Sun
Kartik Shukla Chaturthi–Saptami (13–16 Nov 2026; 2–5 Nov 2027)
In the simplest words
Four days of the Sun: cleansing, kharna's sweet rice, then evening arghya to the setting sun and dawn arghya to the rising one — standing in water, family all around.
Chhath is among the most austere of folk vrats — no priest, no murti, no shortcut: the vrati stands waist-deep in water to salute the setting sun first and the rising sun after, because gratitude that only greets the ascending is not yet gratitude. Everything offered is grown, washed, and cooked in ritual purity by the family's own hands.
Samagri — what you need
0/7 gatheredThe vidhi, step by step
0/5 doneDay 1 — Nahay Khay
The vrati bathes (river where possible), and the house eats one pure meal — lauki-bhaat with chana dal, cooked after the bath. Purity begins at the stove.
Day 2 — Kharna
A day's fast ends at dusk with gur ki kheer and roti, eaten alone in quiet after offering. From this bite the 36-hour nirjala begins.
Day 3 — Sandhya Arghya
The soop is dressed with thekua and fruit; the vrati in the new unstitched cloth; the family walks to the ghat singing; the vrati stands in water and offers the evening arghya to the setting sun.
ॐ सूर्याय नमः
Oṁ Sūryāya Namaḥ
Om, salutations to Surya — the impeller, dispeller of darkness. The name makes the sun a verb as much as a light: that which sets things going. The reciter bows to the force that has already set this very morning in motion, and asks to be moved by it rather than by inertia.
Source: Sūrya Namaskāra mantra sequence (traditional twelve names of Sūrya)
The night of lamps
Ghat or courtyard holds the vigil — kosi lamps under sugarcane canopies where the vow requires; Chhathi Maiya's geet carry the hours.
Day 4 — Usha Arghya & parana
Before dawn, back into the water; the rising sun receives the morning arghya; the vrati breaks the great fast with prasad and raw milk — and the ghat erupts.
ॐ आदित्याय नमः
Oṁ Ādityāya Namaḥ
Om, salutations to Aditya, son of the boundless Aditi. The mantra folds the blazing sun back into a lineage: born of the infinite, carrying the infinite's order across the sky. The reciter bows to the light — and through it, to the boundlessness behind every bounded thing.
Source: Sūrya Namaskāra mantra sequence (traditional twelve names of Sūrya)
Note: Chhath is vowed, often across generations — never undertaken casually, and never judged if adapted for health. Ghat safety matters: shallow, known water, and company for the vrati. Everything here is the common Bihar-UP-Nepal form; village details vary and your elders' form is the right one.