Holika Dahan: Sunday, 21 March 2027. Purnima tithi in New Delhi: 21 Mar, 18:22 – 22 Mar, 16:14 IST.
Timings in New Delhi
- Purnima tithi
- 21 Mar, 18:22 – 22 Mar, 16:14
How we calculate this
- Computed with Swiss Ephemeris (Lahiri) from each city's own sunrise and sunset. Other almanacs can differ by a minute or two.
Holika Dahan (होलिका दहन) is a festival falling in the Hindu lunar month of फाल्गुन. Its position is fixed by tithi rather than by the Gregorian calendar, so the date moves every year and is computed from the panchang. No fast is prescribed for the day. The observance itself, and its puja vidhi, stay the same each year.
Holika Dahan
होलिका दहन
Hindu month: फाल्गुन
Panchang Basis (Tithi Rule)
Phalguna Shukla Purnima fixes the day, so the English date moves each year.
About This Festival
The bonfire night before Holi — communities light the Holika pyre after sunset in the shubh muhurat, circle it with parikrama, and offer the new harvest's grain, celebrating Prahlad's faith outlasting Holika's fire.
होली से पूर्व की रात्रि का पर्व — शुभ मुहूर्त में होलिका की अग्नि जलाई जाती है, परिक्रमा कर नई फसल के अन्न की आहुति दी जाती है, और प्रह्लाद की भक्ति की विजय का उत्सव मनाया जाता है।
Significance
Re-enacts the deliverance of Prahlad: Holika's boon-protected shawl flew to the boy while she burned, proving that bhakti outlasts every scheme against it. The fire is treated as a living purifier — families offer barley, wheat, coconut, and the year's grievances into it, and carry embers home to rekindle the hearth. In folk practice the ash (bhasma) is applied as raksha against nazar and illness. The night also closes the inauspicious Holashtak period, reopening muhurats for shubh karya after Holi.
Puja Vidhi (How to Observe)
Before the dahan, the pyre of wood and upla is raised at a crossroads or community ground with a Prahlad effigy or flag at its crown. In the evening muhurat, offer roli, akshat, flowers, moong, batasha, coconut, and a kalash of water, tie the raksha sutra around the pyre, then light it. Take three or seven parikramas offering barley and gram stalks into the flames. Roast the new grain and share it; carry a little ash home for raksha. Play Holi with colours the next morning.
Regional Names
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Holika Dahan celebrated?
Holika Dahan falls on Tuesday, 3 March 2026 and on Sunday, 21 March 2027.
Is Holika Dahan a fasting (vrat) day?
No, no fast is prescribed for Holika Dahan.
Dates in recent and coming years
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2023 | |
| 2024 | |
| 2025 | |
| 2026 | |
| 2029 | |
| 2030 |
Was this helpful?