look news india
‘Chhath’ (Chhath Puja 2026), the great festival of folk faith, sun worship and unwavering discipline, is celebrated with great pomp and devotion by the Purvanchalis settled in India’s Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and abroad. This four-day festival starts from Chaturthi Tithi of Shukla Paksha of Kartik month and ends with offering Arghya to the rising Sun on Saptami Tithi. According to the calendar and astronomical calculations, Chhath Mahaparva is going to start from 13th November in the year 2026. It is considered very difficult to follow the purity and rules of this great festival, in which cleanliness and every worship material related to the fast has special importance. If you are also going to observe Chhath fast this year or preparations are going on in your house, then this list of complete worship materials used from Nahay-Khay to Kharna, Sandhya Arghya and Usha Arghya will prove to be very useful for you.
The first day of Chhath Mahaparva is called ‘Nahay-Khay’, which is on 13 November this year. On this day, the devotees who start the fast take bath, purify themselves, wear new or washed clothes and prepare food. The main ingredients of this day include pure pumpkin (gourd), chana dal, arava rice (unboiled rice) and rock salt. Special brass or earthen utensils and stoves are used for cooking, and the food is prepared entirely in pure ghee. On the day of Nahay-Khay, all the family members consume the same sattvik food, after which the waterless fast for the next 36 hours begins. Special care is taken of cleanliness on this day so that there is no reduction in the sanctity of the puja.
On the second day of Chhath Mahaparva, ‘Kharna’ (Lohanda) takes place, in which jaggery kheer, chapatti or puri is made. After this, on the third day, Arghya is offered to the setting sun, for which the most important worship material is soup and daura (basket) made of bamboo. Thekua made as Prasad requires pure wheat flour, pure desi ghee, jaggery or sugar and dry fruits (cashew nuts, almonds, raisins, gari). Apart from this, seasonal crops and fruits like banana (including whole gabha), dabh lemon, sugarcane (reed), water chestnut, sugarcane, tuberose, apple, guava, pear and orange are compulsorily included in the fruits. All these fruits are decorated in bamboo soup and taken to the ghat of river or pond, which is a symbol of gratitude towards nature and farmers.
On the last day of the great festival, this difficult fast ends with Parana along with offering Arghya to the rising sun. The worship materials used during this period include copper or brass pot (from which water is offered to the Sun), earthen lamps for lighting lamps, raw cotton or kalava, vermillion, incense sticks, camphor, roli and akshat. It is considered mandatory for the vratis to have new clothes, with women usually wearing a yellow or vermillion colored long bordered traditional saree, and men wearing dhota or kurta-pajama. At the time of Arghya, a mixture of milk and water is filled in a copper pot and dedicated to the Sun God. If you prepare the list of all these materials in advance, then any kind of inconvenience can be avoided during the festival and the worship of Sun God and Chhathi Maiya can be done with full devotion.