Lohri: 2026 and 2027 dates by city

Punjabi winter bonfire festival on the eve of Makar Sankranti.

Lohri is a Punjabi winter festival centred on a bonfire, often celebrated on the eve of Makar Sankranti. It is connected with the agricultural cycle and the coming rabi harvest. In many Punjabi families, the first Lohri after a wedding or a child's birth is marked with special joy.

After sunset a bonfire is lit in the courtyard or the street. People walk around it, offer sesame, peanuts, popcorn and rewri into the flames, and sing the old songs of Dulla Bhatti while children go from house to house collecting treats. Bhangra and gidda dances go on late into the night.

How the date is set

The day before Makar Sankranti.

Dates in 2026 and 2027

The local date in each city; under it, the time of the part of the day the rule looks at, in local time.

In 2026 Delhi keeps it on 13 January; a day apart from that: Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, Sydney.

In 2027 Delhi keeps it on 14 January; a day apart from that: London, New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, Chicago, Paris, Madrid, Rome, São Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Lisbon.

Smarta rules as published by Drik Panchang. ISKCON and regional calendars can name another day. The time shown is the part of the day the rule looks at, not a muhurat for a particular puja.

How to read the table

Each row is a city from our panchang list, and the date is the local civil date on which Lohri is kept there by its rule. Under the date is the time of the part of the day that rule looks at, in the city's own local time: for example the pradosh kala, the evening after sunset, or the nishita around midnight. A time past midnight carries (+1). Where the rule names no part of the day, such as a solar ingress or a festival tied to another festival, only the date is given. The city's name opens its panchang for today.

Why the date can differ between cities

A tithi begins and ends at the same moment everywhere, but sunrise, noon and evening come at different local times. If the tithi ends shortly before the evening in one city and shortly after it in another, the two cities keep the festival on different dates. That is why a single date for the whole world is wrong for some places, and why this page gives the date city by city. The difference is almost always one day.

Which calendar this follows

These are the Smarta dates, by the decision rules of the Dharmasindhu and Nirnayasindhu as Drik Panchang publishes them; every city in the table was compared with Drik Panchang's calendar for that city. ISKCON keeps some days, Janmashtami among them, by the Vaishnava rule, and regional calendars can name another day. If your family or temple follows a particular calendar, follow it.

Questions

See also

• Delhi
• Hindu festivals 2026–2027
• Sakat Chauth
• Makar Sankranti

Positions and tables: sidereal zodiac, Lahiri ayanamsha — the same as professional Jyotish astrologers use, and the same calculation as the charts in JyotiSoft. Updated 2026-10-17.