- मध्याह्न
Ganesh Chaturthi — and which day it actually falls on
Two calendars, two dates. Which one is right?
In 2026 the tithi begins after sunrise on one day and ends before midday on the next, so the ordinary sunrise rule and the rule that actually governs this festival point at different days. Here is the rule, the source it comes from, the clock times, and which day wins.
Read → - नवमी
Navrātri — nine nights, and what the ninth is for
Nine nights are counted from a rule, not a calendar page.
The autumn Navrātri runs from the first tithi of Āśvina's bright half to the ninth, and every one of those days is fixed by a stated rule — which tithi has to be present at sunrise, when the pot is set, and where the aṣṭamī–navamī join falls. Here are the rules, the 2026 clock times for Delhi, and what the ninth night is actually the end of.
Read → - अपराह्न
Dussehra — Vijayādaśamī, and the aparāhna rule
In 2026 the ninth night and the tenth day are the same Tuesday. Here is why that is correct.
Vijayādaśamī is not fixed to sunrise like most tithis. It is fixed to the afternoon — the fourth fifth of the day — and in 2026 that puts it on the same civil day as Mahānavamī, which is the kind of result that makes people distrust the calendar. The rule, its source, the clock times for Delhi and Toronto, and why the two cities agree by different routes.
Read → - प्रदोष
Dhanteras, and what pradoṣa actually means
The festival is fixed to an evening, not a date — and "evening" has a definition.
Dhanteras is the thirteenth tithi of the dark half of Kārttika, taken on the day it is present in the pradoṣa — the stretch after sunset. That word does the work, and most calendars never say what it means. Here is the rule, its source, the 2026 clock times for Delhi and Toronto, and why the story of Dhanvantari and the story of the lamp for Yama sit on the same evening.
Read → - निशीथ
Diwāli — Lakṣmī Pūjā, pradoṣa and niśītha together
Lakṣmī Pūjā needs an amāvasyā that reaches the evening. In 2026 it reaches midnight too.
Diwāli is the new-moon evening of Kārttika, and the pūjā has two windows the texts name — pradoṣa, just after sunset, and niśītha, the middle of the night. Some years only one of them falls on amāvasyā and the calendars split. In 2026 both do, and the day is unambiguous. Here is the rule, the 2026 clock times, and the two days either side of it that are usually printed without explanation.
Read → - प्रतिपदा
Govardhan and Annakūṭa
The day after Diwāli is not always the day after Diwāli.
Govardhan Pūjā and the Annakūṭa are kept on Kārttika śukla Pratipadā, the first tithi after the new moon, taken in the morning. In 2026 that tithi does not reach the morning until two days after Lakṣmī Pūjā, leaving an empty Monday between them. Here is why, with the times, and what the Purāṇa actually says the day remembers.
Read → - द्वितीया
Bhai Dūj
Yama Dvitīyā is an afternoon, and in 2026 the afternoon is Wednesday.
The last of the five days is Kārttika śukla Dvitīyā, kept in the aparāhna — the same afternoon window that fixes Dussehra. Here is the rule, the story it carries, the 2026 times for Delhi and Toronto, and the one clause that decides it when the tithi reaches two afternoons.
Read → - संक्रान्ति
Makara Saṅkrānti — the one festival fixed to the Sun
Every other festival on this site follows the Moon. This one follows the Sun, and in 2027 the Sun crosses after dark.
A saṅkrānti is the instant the Sun enters a sign. Makara Saṅkrānti is the entry into Capricorn, and because it is an instant, not a tithi, the rule for observing it is about what to do when that instant falls at night. In 2027 it does — at 9:10 PM in Delhi — which moves the observance to the next morning in India and leaves it on the same day in Toronto. The computation, the rule, and why the date has drifted from the solstice.
Read → - निशीथ
Mahā Śivarātri — the niśītha rule
The great night of Śiva is fixed to the middle of the night — the one time of day no calendar prints.
Mahā Śivarātri is Phālguna kṛṣṇa Caturdaśī, taken on the night when that tithi covers niśītha — the muhūrta around midnight. The rule is simple and nearly always produces one clean answer, but the answer is a night, not a date, and the four prahara pūjās that fill it are timed from sunset. The 2027 computation for Delhi, the prahara times, and what the night is for.
Read → - भद्रा
Holi and Holikā Dahana — pradoṣa, and the bhadrā exclusion
The fire has a rule, and the rule has an exception that swallows most years.
Holikā Dahana is lit on Phālguna pūrṇimā in the pradoṣa, after sunset — unless bhadrā covers that window, which it does whenever the pūrṇimā began that same day, because bhadrā is the first half of the tithi. The nibandhas give an order of fallbacks. In 2027 the exception applies, and here is what it produces, with the computed windows.
Read → - मध्याह्न
Rāma Navamī
The day is fixed to noon, because the text says he was born at noon.
Rāma Navamī is Caitra śukla Navamī, the last day of the spring Navrātri, and it is the one festival whose rule comes straight from a birth-hour in the epic. Vālmīki puts the birth at midday in Punarvasu with Karka rising; the nibandhas therefore take the day on which Navamī covers the madhyāhna. The 2027 computation for Delhi, the epic's own astronomical line, and what it does and does not let us claim.
Read → - निशीथ
Kṛṣṇa Janmāṣṭamī — and the smārta / vaiṣṇava split, stated
Two dates for one birth, every few years, and both sides are following a rule. In 2027 they differ.
Janmāṣṭamī is Bhādrapada kṛṣṇa Aṣṭamī, and the Bhāgavata places the birth at midnight under Rohiṇī. Two traditions read that differently — the smārta rule takes the night whose midnight is in Aṣṭamī, the vaiṣṇava rule requires Aṣṭamī at sunrise and prefers Rohiṇī — and in 2027 the two rules point at consecutive days. Both computations for Delhi, side by side, with the sources.
Read → - भद्रा
Rakṣā Bandhan — aparāhna, and the bhadrā exclusion
The afternoon rule and the bhadrā rule collide almost every year. 2027 is one of those years.
Rakṣā Bandhan is Śrāvaṇa pūrṇimā in the aparāhna, and bhadrā — the first half of any pūrṇimā — is excluded. Because the two rules overlap so often, the nibandhas give a chain of fallbacks that most calendars apply silently. The 2027 computation for Delhi walks the chain in the open and arrives at a morning, not an afternoon.
Read → - मुहूर्त
The occasions that are not festivals — gṛha praveśa, vivāha, vidyārambha, mundan, a new shop, travel
A festival has a date. An occasion has to be given one, and the texts say how.
Housewarming, marriage, a child's first lesson, the first haircut, opening a shop, setting out on a journey — none of these has a fixed day. Each has a muhūrta: a set of conditions the sky must meet, stated in the texts, that a calendar can search for. This page explains what a muhūrta actually is, which conditions the classical works impose for each occasion, and why the answer depends on the person as well as the day.
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Also in this section, being written
These are names, not promises. A page appears here only once it cites its sources, which is why none of them carries a date.