Every Bengali household has the same argument in September. Someone is certain Ashtami is on a Sunday. Someone else has already booked leave for the wrong week.
So here it is, settled. Every date for Durga Puja 2026, what actually happens on each day, and — since we make blouses for a living — a line on what people tend to wear.
Durga Puja 2026 at a glance
| Day | Date |
|---|---|
| Mahalaya | Saturday, 10 October |
| Maha Panchami | Friday, 16 October |
| Maha Shashthi | Saturday, 17 October |
| Maha Saptami | Sunday, 18 October |
| Maha Ashtami | Monday, 19 October |
| Maha Navami | Tuesday, 20 October |
| Vijaya Dashami | Wednesday, 21 October |
The good news for 2026: Puja falls across a weekend and the start of the following week. Shashthi and Saptami land on Saturday and Sunday, which means two full days of pandal hopping before anyone has to think about office.
Mahalaya — Saturday, 10 October
The day the countdown becomes real.
It begins before dawn, with Mahishasura Mardini on the radio — the same recitation, the same voice, playing in kitchens across Bengal at four in the morning. Families who own no radio the rest of the year find one for this.
Mahalaya marks the end of Pitru Paksha and the start of Devi Paksha. At the ghats, tarpan is offered to ancestors. In Kumortuli, the idol makers paint the eyes — chokkhu daan — and the Goddess is considered to have arrived.
Puja proper is still six days away. Emotionally, it starts here.
What to wear. Nothing new, and nothing heavy. A soft cotton or handloom saree, and a plain blouse you already trust — Mahalaya mornings are early, often damp, and spent standing on a ghat or sitting by a radio.
If you are buying anything for this day, buy the workhorse: a solid gajji silk piece like the Radhika sleeveless at ₹2,550, in a colour that goes with most of your sarees. It will carry you through Mahalaya and then through every ordinary day of the six that follow.
Maha Panchami — Friday, 16 October
The pandals open.
Many of the big barowari pujas in Kolkata inaugurate early, so by Panchami evening the para is lit, the dhaak is being tested, and the crowds have begun. This is the gentlest night of the six — you can actually walk, and you can actually see the idol.
What to wear. The warm-up outfit, and comfort decides it. You will walk further than you plan to, in a crowd, in October humidity.
Fabric — cotton silk or raw silk over anything with a heavy fused lining. Sleeve — elbow or three-quarter, not sleeveless; you will be in a crowd for hours. Armhole — this is the one that fails first. A blouse that feels fine standing still becomes unbearable by the third hour of walking.
Neckline — keep it simple tonight. Round or a shallow V. Save the statement back for later in the week.
A light-work piece is right here. The Tamara at ₹4,250 — lotus motifs, restrained — sits well with a cotton Benarasi without competing with it.
Maha Shashthi — Saturday, 17 October
The Goddess is formally welcomed.
Three rituals happen today: Bodhon, the awakening; Amantran, the invitation; and Adhibas, the consecration. The face of the idol, kept covered until now, is unveiled.
For most families, Shashthi evening is the first proper outing — new clothes, the whole household, photographs at the pandal.
What to wear. This is where a handwork blouse earns its place, and where most of the evening's photographs happen.
Colour — something that lifts the saree rather than fighting it. Deep green, wine, oxblood, mustard, soft gold. If your saree already has a heavy zari border, take the blouse down in weight, not up.
Neckline — if the embroidery is dense across the yoke, keep the neckline clean and let the work speak. If the work is light, this is the night for a deeper back or a keyhole.
Sleeve — elbow length photographs better than a cap sleeve when your arms are raised for anjali, and it gives the embroidery somewhere to run.
The Girija in deep forest green (₹4,850) or the Shailaja in bottle green or honey yellow (₹4,850) are both built for exactly this evening.
Maha Saptami — Sunday, 18 October
The main worship begins.
Before sunrise, the Nabapatrika — nine plants bound together, known affectionately as Kola Bou — is carried to the river, bathed, dressed in a red-bordered saree and installed beside Ganesha. Anyone who has ever wondered who the "banana-leaf bride" is: that's her, and she represents nine forms of the Goddess.
The first full day of puja follows, with anjali in the morning.
What to wear. Daylight changes what works. Saptami mornings have beautiful, soft light, and sequins that look brilliant under a pandal's flood-lamps look flat in it.
Go for texture, not shine. Zardozi and dabka — raised metal work — catch daylight from the side and throw a shadow. That is why they photograph so well in the morning and why a flat sequin panel does not.
Colour — golds, ivories, champagne, tussar tones. Daylight is kind to warm neutrals and unkind to very bright synthetics.
Fabric — tissue or raw silk, which breathe through a long morning of standing.
The Bahar in Golden Glow (₹4,550) or the Champaka in swan white with gold floral work (₹6,250) are the daylight pieces in our collection.
Maha Ashtami — Monday, 19 October
The big one.
Pushpanjali is offered — the flower offering that draws the longest queues of the entire festival, hands folded, flowers held, the priest's chant repeated line by line. In many pandals, Kumari Puja is performed, a young girl worshipped as the living Goddess.
And at the junction of Ashtami and Navami comes Sandhi Puja, the most charged ritual of the six days, performed in the brief window spanning the end of one tithi and the beginning of the next. A hundred and eight lamps. The dhaak at full volume. If you see one ritual this Puja, see this.
What to wear. Red. If you buy one new blouse this Puja, buy it for today.
Ashtami is the day of the long anjali queue and the family group photograph — the one that lives on everyone's phone for a year. Which means two things matter more than usual.
First, the sleeve and neckline are all anyone sees. In a packed pandal your saree is largely hidden. Put the money where the work is visible: detailing down the sleeve, across the shoulder, around the neckline. A full or elbow sleeve with work running down the arm gives a far more finished look in photographs than a short sleeve.
Second, it has to survive standing with your arms raised for a long time. Generous armhole, breathable fabric, nothing that digs.
On the red itself — classic red with white is the Ashtami look for a reason, but oxblood maroon, rust and deep rani pink all photograph beautifully and are less likely to clash with whatever everyone else in the family photo is wearing.
The Anagha in Blood Red (₹5,250), the Aruna in Red Berry (₹4,550) or the Kundan in Maroon Blood (₹4,850) — jewellery-inspired embellishment — all belong to today.
Maha Navami — Tuesday, 20 October
The last full day, and the city knows it.
Navami evening carries a particular quality — everyone is aware it is nearly over. Maha Aarti, dhunuchi naach with the smoke and the drums, bhog served through the day, and pandals packed until well past midnight.
What to wear. The heaviest thing you own. Navami evening is the only night of the six where nobody will think you have overdone it.
Structure matters tonight. A dense, heavily worked blouse needs a proper lining and a firm cut, or it loses its shape somewhere around eleven and never gets it back. This is where the difference between a well-finished blouse and a rushed one becomes obvious in photographs.
Weight against comfort — you will be out until well past midnight. Heavy work on the yoke and sleeves, lighter through the body, is the compromise that actually works.
Colour — jewel tones hold up under artificial light: emerald, teal, deep purple, wine, midnight blue.
The Chitkali in teal green (₹9,450) is the heaviest piece we make, and Navami is the night for it. From our wedding blouse range, anything with dense zardozi does the same job.
Vijaya Dashami — Wednesday, 21 October
Farewell.
The day begins with Devi Boron — married women welcome the Goddess with sweets, vermilion and betel leaf before she departs. Then Sindoor Khela, the vermilion play, which has become the most photographed moment of the entire festival.
The immersion follows. Then kolakuli — the embrace — sweets, and Shubho Bijoya said to everyone you meet for the next fortnight.
What to wear. White saree, red border. This is the one day with an actual uniform, and there is no arguing with it.
Which means the blouse is doing all the work. Against a plain white drape, a red handwork blouse is the single most striking look of the six days — and the one that reads best in a crowd of women all dressed the same way.
Two practical things. Sindoor gets everywhere, and it does not always come out. Wear a red or deep-toned blouse rather than a pale one, and choose a fabric you are prepared to have marked. Heavy raised zardozi traps powder in the coils and is difficult to clean, so today is better served by fine aari or thread work than by dense metal.
Neckline — a clean round or boat neck against white looks more considered than something ornate. The contrast is already doing the work.
The Suhani in White Dover Red (₹4,850) was made for this pairing. Any deep red from the handwork collection works as well.
Afterwards — brush the sindoor off dry, outdoors, before it goes anywhere near water. Do not rub it, and do not wash a handwork piece at home.
And after
Kojagari Lakshmi Puja follows on the next full moon, and Kali Puja a fortnight or so later. For most Bengali families the festive season doesn't end on Dashami — it just changes shape.
If you're planning clothes, plan backwards
One practical note.
A custom handwork blouse takes about fourteen days to stitch, plus two to four days to reach you. Count backwards from Panchami on 16 October and you arrive at 28 September.
That's the date that actually matters in this calendar. After it, custom stitching cannot be guaranteed for Puja — and you are choosing from what is already made. Our readymade blouses ship immediately if you leave it late, but the good ones go first, as they do every year.
Frequently asked questions
When is Durga Puja in 2026? Durga Puja 2026 runs from Friday 16 October (Maha Panchami) to Wednesday 21 October (Vijaya Dashami), with Mahalaya on Saturday 10 October.
What date is Maha Ashtami 2026? Maha Ashtami falls on Monday, 19 October 2026.
When is Mahalaya 2026? Saturday, 10 October 2026 — six days before Panchami.
When is Vijaya Dashami 2026? Wednesday, 21 October 2026. Sindoor Khela and the immersion take place on this day.
How many days is Durga Puja? The main celebration runs six days, from Panchami to Dashami, though for most families it begins emotionally at Mahalaya, sixteen days earlier.
At Sarla Creations, every blouse is hand-embroidered in our own studio in Salt Lake, Kolkata. If you're planning these six days, we'd rather help you plan them early than late.
