Diwali 2026 was on Sunday, 8 November 2026 — it has already passed. The next Diwali is on Friday, 29 October 2027, in 352 days from today (11 November 2026). The exact date depends on moon sighting or the local calendar and can shift by a day. This page gives the 2026 date, what the day means, how it is observed, and the dates for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
Try the tool: Countdown Timer — count down to Diwali 2026 live, second by second.
Try the tool: Days Until Calculator — count the days until any date, including Diwali.
When is Diwali 2026?
Diwali 2026 is on Sunday, 8 November 2026 — Sunday. That date has passed; the next occurrence is Friday, 29 October 2027 (352 days away). It is a Hindu observance. The exact date depends on moon sighting or the local calendar and can shift by a day.
How the countdown is worked out
The countdown is the number of days from today to the holiday's date: the 2026 date is in the past, so the live countdown is to the next occurrence (29 October 2027), which is 352 days away. The count is in calendar days — it counts the days you have to wait, not the number of midnights, and it does not count today. The countdown timer recomputes the number live, second by second, and the days until calculator does the same calculation for any date you choose. If the holiday is in a different time zone from you, the day starts at a different moment — but the date is the date, and the countdown is in days, so the time zone does not change the number.
What is Diwali?
Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, celebrating the victory of light over darkness and good over evil. Its date follows the Hindu lunar calendar, so the exact date can shift by a day.
How Diwali is observed
Families light oil lamps (diyas) and fireworks, exchange sweets and gifts, and hold prayers to Lakshmi, goddess of prosperity. It is a public holiday in India and is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists worldwide.
How the date is worked out
Diwali follows a lunar or lunisolar calendar, so its date moves each year and the exact date depends on the moon sighting or the local calendar. The dates on this page are the expected dates; they can shift by a day. For planning travel or time off, confirm the date with an official source for your country — and for religious observance, with your local religious authority.
Diwali dates — 2026, 2027 and 2028
| Year | Date | Day of the week |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 8 November 2026 | Sunday |
| 2027 | 29 October 2027 | Friday |
| 2028 | 17 October 2028 | Tuesday |
Diwali 2026 in the calendar
Diwali 2026 is the 312th day of 2026 — a year of 365 days — and it falls in ISO week 45 of the year. There are 53 days left in the year after it, and 30 days in November 2026. In the Northern Hemisphere it is autumn; in the Southern Hemisphere the seasons are reversed.
The week number matters more than people think: in business and government across Europe, dates are often given as week numbers, and the week number finder gives the ISO week for any date. The day-of-year number is used in astronomy, in logistics and in some payroll systems. And the days-left figure is the useful one for planning the rest of the year: after Diwali 2026 there are 53 days — 7 weeks — left in 2026.
Planning for Diwali 2026
The 2026 observance has passed, so the planning horizon is the next one: Friday, 29 October 2027 is 352 days away. That is 50 weeks — enough time to book travel, arrange time off and plan properly, and the earlier you book, the cheaper the travel usually is. The dates table above gives the next three years, so you can plan further ahead too.
Diwali 2026 falls on a Sunday — a weekend day — so most people get the day without taking time off. The practical effect is that the celebrations spread across the weekend, and the Friday or Monday around it is often taken as well — so if you are booking travel, the whole weekend is the busy period, not just the day itself.
The countdown in other units
The countdown to the next Diwali (Friday, 29 October 2027) is 352 days — which is 50 weeks and 2 days, 8448 hours, 506,880 minutes, or about 11.6 months. Of those 352 days, 252 are weekdays and 100 are weekend days — so if you are counting working days, there are 252 of them left before the holiday. The days between dates calculator works out the same numbers for any two dates, and the business days calculator counts the working days excluding public holidays.
Diwali around the world
As a Hindu observance, this day follows the Hindu lunar calendar, so its date moves each year and the exact date can shift by a day. It is a public holiday in India and Nepal, and it is observed by Hindu communities around the world. The customs vary by region within India — the same festival can be marked quite differently in the north and the south.
Planning checklist for Diwali 2026
| When | Task |
|---|---|
| Now | The 2026 observance has passed — put the next one (Friday, 29 October 2027) in your calendar, with a reminder a month before. |
| One month before | Book travel and request time off, if Diwali means either. |
| One week before | Confirm plans, buy what you need, and check the date — lunar dates can shift by a day. |
More countdowns
If you are counting down to Diwali, you may also be counting down to Christmas Day 2026, New Year's Day 2026, Easter Sunday 2026. And for the same holiday in another year, see Diwali 2027 and Diwali 2028.
Frequently asked questions
When is Diwali 2026?
Diwali 2026 is on Sunday, 8 November 2026 (Sunday). The exact date depends on moon sighting or the local calendar and can shift by a day.
How many days until Diwali 2026?
Diwali 2026 has passed. The next one is Friday, 29 October 2027, in 352 days from 11 November 2026.
What day of the week is Diwali 2026?
Diwali 2026 is a Sunday.
When is Diwali in 2027?
Diwali 2027 is on Friday, 29 October 2027 (Friday).
Is Diwali a public holiday?
Diwali is a religious observance; whether it is a public holiday depends on the country. It is a public holiday in the countries where that religion is the majority or an official faith.
What is Diwali?
Diwali is the Hindu festival of lights, celebrating the victory of light over darkness and good over evil. Its date follows the Hindu lunar calendar, so the exact date can shift by a day.
How many weeks until Diwali 2026?
The next Diwali is 352 days away, which is 50 weeks and 2 days.
How many working days are left until Diwali 2026?
Count the weekdays between today and the holiday: the business days calculator does it, excluding weekends and the public holidays you add. The countdown in other units above gives the weekday count for the next occurrence.
Sources
- IANA Time Zone Database, via Node.js Intl (
Intl.DateTimeFormatwithtimeZone) — offsets, daylight saving dates and local times in this article were worked out from the IANA database, not typed from memory. - TimeFlow's own time-zone data (
data/cities.ts,data/dst.ts), computed from the IANA database. - Holiday dates: TimeFlow's own holiday data (
data/holidays.ts). Lunar and lunisolar dates are labelled approximate: the exact local date depends on moon sighting or the local calendar and can shift by a day. - TimeFlow's countdown timer and days until calculator — the live tools behind the countdown on this page.
- Time-zone and daylight saving rules are set by governments and can change. For flights, deadlines and meetings that cannot move, confirm the time with an official source.