Festival calendar · 2028

Hindu Festivals 2028

This is a national calendar of the major Hindu festivals falling in 2028, arranged month by month. Every date is computed from our own panchang engine, run for the Ujjain meridian that Indian astronomy has used as its reference for centuries, and then checked against the mainstream all-India almanac. 2028 has no adhik maas, so the festivals sit about eleven days earlier in the Gregorian year than their 2027 positions, and Diwali comes forward to October 17, 2028, sharing its civil day with Naraka Chaturdashi the way it did in 2026. Makar Sankranti is January 15, 2028 once more, though for a different reason than last year: the Sun enters sidereal Capricorn at 03:24 in the small hours of January 15 itself, before sunrise, so the crossing and the punya kaal fall on the same day, with Lohri on January 14, 2028. A festival tied to a tithi can still be kept a day apart in the South or the East, because the tithi at the ritual hour shifts with longitude, so treat your local panchang as the authority for your own city. For anything time-of-day sensitive, a wedding, a house-warming, the start of a venture, a date alone is not enough; those need a muhurat computed for your city, and the tools linked below do that.

38 festivals across 12 months. Jump to muhurat windows or the FAQ.

Upcoming festivals

See the full countdown hub

The next festivals still ahead this year, counted from today. For the live countdown of everything left in 2028, open the upcoming festivals hub.

The 2028 calendar, month by month

Dates are computed by our panchang engine for the Ujjain reference meridian and cross-checked against the mainstream all-India almanac. A tithi-based festival can be observed a day apart by longitude, so your local panchang is the authority for your own city.

January 2028

  • Jan 14
    Friday

    Lohri

    The Punjab bonfire night before Makar Sankranti. Sesame, jaggery and popcorn go into the fire and the winter harvest is thanked.

  • Jan 15
    Saturday

    Makar Sankranti

    The Sun turns north into Capricorn. The first sankranti of the calendar year, marked with a til-gud exchange and a dip in the river at dawn.

    Also known as: Pongal (Tamil Nadu), Magh Bihu (Assam), Uttarayan (Gujarat), Khichdi (UP and Bihar)

    Full guide: Makar Sankranti: why this is the only festival on a fixed solar date

February 2028

March 2028

  • Mar 10
    Friday

    Holika Dahan

    The bonfire on the Phalguna full moon that burns the old year. Prahlada walked out of the fire and Holika did not; the pyre is lit after sunset.

  • Mar 11
    Saturday

    Holi (Dhulandi)

    The day of colour, the morning after Holika Dahan. Elders are touched at the feet before colour is thrown on friends.

    Full guide: Holi: why we burn last year tonight, and play with colors tomorrow

  • Mar 27
    Monday

    Ugadi / Gudi Padwa

    The lunar new year in the Deccan and the west. A gudi is raised at the doorway in Maharashtra; the bevu-bella of neem and jaggery is eaten in the south.

    Also known as: Gudi Padwa (Maharashtra), Ugadi (Andhra, Telangana, Karnataka)

April 2028

  • Apr 4
    Tuesday

    Ram Navami

    Rama was born at noon on the Chaitra ninth. The Ramayana is read and the cradle is rocked at midday.

    Full guide: Ram Navami: when the king who never broke dharma was born

  • Apr 7
    Friday

    Mahavir Jayanti

    The birth of Mahavira, the last Tirthankara. Jain temples hold the abhishekam of the idol and the day turns on non-violence and restraint.

  • Apr 9
    Sunday

    Hanuman Jayanti

    Hanuman was born on the Chaitra full moon. The Sundarakanda and the Hanuman Chalisa are read; sindoor and a garland go on the idol.

    Full guide: Hanuman Jayanti: the birthday of strength itself

  • Apr 14
    Friday

    Baisakhi (Vaisakhi)

    The solar new year at Mesha sankranti and the Punjab harvest. The Khalsa was founded on this day, so the gurudwara stays open from dawn.

    Also known as: Puthandu (Tamil Nadu), Pana Sankranti (Odisha), Pohela Boishakh (Bengal, Apr 15)

  • Apr 14
    Friday

    Vishu

    Kerala's new year at the solar turn. The Vishukkani is arranged the night before so gold, grain and the image of Krishna are the first sight on waking.

  • Apr 27
    Thursday

    Akshaya Tritiya

    What begins today does not diminish. One of the four abhijit-style days when every hour is auspicious; gold and grain bought now are said to multiply.

    Full guide: Akshaya Tritiya: why this date never has a bad muhurat

May 2028

  • May 8
    Monday

    Buddha Purnima

    The Vaishakha full moon on which the Buddha was born, reached enlightenment and passed away. Bodhi trees are watered and lamps are lit at the vihara.

June 2028

  • Jun 2
    Friday

    Ganga Dussehra

    The day Ganga came down to earth. A dip in any river at first light carries the intent of a bath at Haridwar.

  • Jun 3
    Saturday

    Nirjala Ekadashi

    The one Ekadashi kept without a drop of water from sunrise to sunrise. Bhima kept only this one; a pot of water given away today carries the year's vrat.

    Full guide: Ekadashi fasting: why the 11th lunar day is the most powerful Vedic fast

  • Jun 24
    Saturday

    Rath Yatra (Puri)

    Jagannath leaves the Puri temple on the great chariot with Balabhadra and Subhadra. Odisha empties into the streets to pull the ropes.

July 2028

August 2028

September 2028

October 2028

November 2028

December 2028

Major muhurat windows in 2028

A festival is a fixed day. A muhurat is a scored window for a specific event, and it depends on your city, because the good hours inside a day shift with the local sunrise and moon position. This page does not print per-city times; the tools below compute them for you, free, for the next 60 days.

Marriage muhurat

Vivah lagna and wedding dates, scored against the couple's charts.

See top windows

Griha Pravesh muhurat

Moving into a new home and vastu shanti.

See top windows

Business start muhurat

Shop opening, company registration, a new venture.

See top windows

Property registration muhurat

Signing the sale deed at the sub-registrar.

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Travel muhurat

Setting out on a long journey or pilgrimage.

See top windows

Namakarana muhurat

The baby naming ceremony.

See top windows

Mundan muhurat

The first ritual haircut for a child.

See top windows

Vidyarambha muhurat

The first formal lesson or admission.

See top windows

For the full picker, including surgery and other occasions, open the muhurat finder.

FAQ

When is Diwali in 2028?
Diwali falls on October 17, 2028, the Kartika amavasya, with the Lakshmi puja in the pradosh window that evening. The amavasya begins at 12:05 on October 17 and ends at 08:26 on October 18, so it fills the evening of the 17th and has left before the evening of the 18th, and the Lakshmi puja follows it. That same day also carries Naraka Chaturdashi, so Choti Diwali and Diwali share October 17, 2028, as they did in 2026. The five-day sequence runs Dhanteras on October 16, 2028, Naraka Chaturdashi and Diwali on October 17, 2028, Govardhan Puja on October 18, 2028 and Bhai Dooj on October 19, 2028.
When is Holi in 2028?
Holi is played on March 11, 2028. Holika Dahan is lit the night before, on March 10, 2028, on the Phalguna full moon, and the colours follow the next morning.
When is Makar Sankranti in 2028?
Makar Sankranti is observed on January 15, 2028, and Lohri, its eve, on January 14, 2028. The Sun enters sidereal Capricorn at 03:24 in the early hours of January 15, 2028, before that day's sunrise, so the crossing and the punya kaal share the same civil day. That makes 2028 simpler than 2027, when a post-sunset crossing on January 14 pushed the observance to the 15th; the outcome is the same date, reached a different way.
Does 2028 have an adhik maas?
No. Our engine finds no intercalary month anywhere in 2028; the last was the adhik Jyeshtha of 2026 (mid May to mid June). Without an extra month the lunar festivals fall about eleven days earlier than their 2027 dates, which is why Raksha Bandhan comes forward to August 5, 2028 and Guru Purnima to July 6, 2028.
Where do these dates come from?
Each date is computed by our own panchang engine, run for the Ujjain reference meridian for every day of 2028, with each festival read at its classical ritual hour: sunrise for most vratas, midday for Ganesh Chaturthi, the afternoon for Vijayadashami, the evening for Diwali and Dhanteras, midnight for Maha Shivaratri, moonrise for Karva Chauth, and the exact solar ingress instant for the sankranti festivals. The results were then checked against the mainstream all-India almanac, and where a sunrise-only reading and the classical day-selection differ, the mainstream all-India date is shown, since that is the one readers cross-check against.
Why do some sources list a festival one day apart from this calendar?
A Hindu festival is tied to a tithi, a lunar day that begins and ends at a fixed astronomical moment rather than at midnight. Whether that tithi is current at the ritual time, which can be sunrise, midday, evening or midnight depending on the festival, shifts with your longitude, so Chennai and Delhi can observe the same festival a day apart. This calendar uses the mainstream all-India reckoning; your local panchang is the authority for your own city. 2028 has four dates where the ritual-hour reading and a plain sunrise reading genuinely differ: Maha Shivaratri, Baisakhi, Dussehra and Diwali.
How do I find an auspicious muhurat for a wedding or house-warming in 2028?
A festival date and a muhurat are not the same thing. A muhurat is a specific window scored on the five panchang limbs (tithi, vara, nakshatra, yoga, karana) for your event and your location, and the good window inside a day can be a couple of hours long. Use the muhurat calculators linked on this page; they compute the top windows for your city and, with a free account, factor your chart.

Plan around the 2028 calendar

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