Chhath Puja 2026 in Australia: Dates, Arghya Times and Where the Community Gathers
Chhath Puja 2026 in Australia runs November 13–16 — Sandhya Arghya at local sunset on Sunday 15 November, Usha Arghya at sunrise on Monday 16 November, at organ
By Nepalese Events Australia Editorial
Published: 2026-10-29T05:53:43.000000Z
Category: Festivals
Four days after Bhai Tika, Australia's Madhesi and wider Nepali community takes its most physically demanding festival to the water. Chhath Puja 2026 in Australia runs Friday 13 November to Monday 16 November, with the main Sandhya Arghya on the evening of Sunday 15 November.
Australia Chhath 2026 dates and times
• Nahay Khay: Friday, 13 November — purification bath and the first satvik meal
• Kharna: Saturday, 14 November — day-long fast, broken after sunset with kheer and roti prasad
• Sandhya Arghya: Sunday, 15 November — offering to the setting sun at local sunset (~7:30 PM AEDT in Sydney and Melbourne; check your city's exact sunset close to the date)
• Usha Arghya: Monday, 16 November — offering to the rising sun at local sunrise (~5:50 AM AEDT), after which the 36-hour fast breaks
Chhath needs no Nepal-clock conversion — both offerings follow the sun where you stand. Australia's version has one advantage no northern-hemisphere community gets: November here is late spring, so the Sunday-evening ghat gathering happens in warm light rather than British or Canadian cold.
Where the community gathers
Australian Chhath has moved from backyard observance to organised public ghats over the last few years. The community's pattern mirrors the US and UK: local samaj and Madhesi associations reserve a lakeside, riverbank or beach-adjacent spot — Sydney's Nepali communities run their main gathering in the western suburbs corridor where the Madhesi population is densest, with Melbourne groups gathering at lakeside reserves. Organisers coordinate the exact ghat spot, parking and safety through community channels in the days before; families bring soop baskets, sugarcane and thekua for the offering.
This year's Sunday Sandhya Arghya is the best-case calendar — the main offering lands on a non-working afternoon. The festival fortnight that leads into Chhath is covered in our Tihar 2026 guide and the Bhai Tika sahit times; and the worldwide Chhath overview covers the festival's meaning and dates elsewhere. The Nepal–Sydney time converter and AUD–NPR rate are on our tools pages.
Photo: File:Chhath Puja Varanasi.jpg by Coplanar via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).
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