Karthigai Deepam 2026 Date

Why this date?

Karthigai Deepam is not observed on a fixed calendar date. It falls on the day when two astronomical conditions coincide: the Krittika (Karthigai) nakshatra is prevailing in the evening, and the moon is at Pournami (full moon) in the Tamil month of Karthikai. In 2026, these two align on Tuesday, 24 November.

The observance is not a single day. The festival is preceded by Bharani Deepam the day before (Monday, 23 November 2026), when a single lamp is lit at the Arunachaleswarar Temple in Tiruvannamalai. It is followed by a smaller day-after observance on Wednesday, 25 November 2026. Most Tamil homes treat the three days as a single continuous festival.

Key dates at a glance

Bharani Deepam: Monday, 23 November 2026
Karthigai Deepam (main day): Tuesday, 24 November 2026
Day-after observance: Wednesday, 25 November 2026
Tiruvannamalai Brahmotsavam: 15 - 24 November 2026 (ten days)
Maha Deepam on Arunachala hill: Sunset on 24 November 2026

For the diaspora

The date is set by Indian Standard Time (IST). Because the Krittika nakshatra needs to be prevailing during the evening (Pradosham period), the same calendar date is observed by Tamil communities worldwide, whether in Malaysia, Singapore, the Gulf, the UK, Canada, the USA, or Australia. If you are lighting lamps at home, do so at your local sunset on the evening of Tuesday, 24 November 2026.

For an authoritative panchangam calculation at your exact location, the Drik Panchang page allows you to select your city.

What happens on the day

At home, families begin the day with a ritual bath, wear new clothes, and prepare the puja room and doorway with fresh kolam and mango-leaf toranams. Traditional sweets - pori urundai, nei appam, sakkarai pongal - are cooked as naivedyam. From dusk, rows of clay lamps are lit throughout the home: first in the puja room, then at doors and windows, then along the balcony and front steps.

At Tiruvannamalai, the ten-day Brahmotsavam festival at the Arunachaleswarar Temple builds toward the evening of the Deepam. Around sunset on 24 November, the Maha Deepam is lit on the summit of the Arunachala hill - a great cauldron of ghee visible for tens of kilometres. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims walk the fourteen-kilometre Girivalam around the base of the hill on the same night.

Historical dates (for reference)

Karthigai Deepam dates in recent and upcoming years:

• 2024: Wednesday, 13 December 2024
• 2025: Wednesday, 3 December 2025
• 2026: Tuesday, 24 November 2026
• 2027: Sunday, 12 December 2027 (provisional)

Dates vary from year to year because the observance follows the lunar-solar Tamil panchangam, not the Gregorian calendar.

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