Diwali 2026
Five days, not one — and in Gujarat the biggest of them is the morning after the fireworks.
Diwali night — Lakshmi pooja — is Sunday 8 November 2026, and the five days run 6–10 November 2026. Bestu Varas, the Gujarati New Year, is Monday 9 November, opening Vikram Samvat 2083.
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The five days
- Day 1 Friday
Dhanteras
The season opens. Metal, and anything new, is bought today.
- Day 2 Saturday
Kali Chaudas
Naraka Chaturdashi elsewhere. Quieter, and kept differently house to house.
- Day 3 Sunday
Diwali
Lakshmi pooja after dark, on the new moon of Kartik.
- Day 4 Monday
Bestu Varas
The Gujarati New Year, Kartik Sud Ekam. The morning of visiting, and the day new clothes are actually worn.
- Day 5 Tuesday
Bhai Bij
Sisters and brothers. The last of the five.
Is there a colour for Diwali?
No, and this is the honest answer to a question a lot of pages answer badly. Navratri has a colour for each of its nine nights, set by the panchang. Diwali has none. Anyone publishing a day-by-day Diwali colour chart has invented it.
What Diwali has instead is a preference for something new, and for something that holds its own under lamplight. Deep reds, gold, jewel greens and blues do that; very pale things tend to disappear against the diyas. Many families avoid black on the pooja day, and plenty do not — it varies house to house, and we would not quote a rule at anyone about their own home.
What people actually wear, day by day
Not all five days are dressed, and knowing which are is most of the practical question.
Dhanteras and Kali Chaudas are lightly dressed. Most people are working, the shopping is being done, and the evening is short.
Diwali night is the dressed one — the pooja, then the house, then whoever comes. It is worn indoors and photographed at close range under lamplight, which is exactly the condition hand work is made for and machine embroidery is not.
Bestu Varas morning is the most dressed of the five, and the one people underestimate. It is the morning of visiting — to family, to neighbours, to the shop if there is one. New clothes are worn today because today they are actually seen.
Bhai Bij is family and comfortable. Almost nobody has something made for it.
It is rarely one person
Diwali is the season the studio is asked for whole households rather than single pieces — kurtas for the men, something for the children, and the women of the family planned together. Families stand in one room and one photograph all week, so those outfits are worth planning as a set rather than chosen one at a time.
That is a different job from a bridal order, and a lighter one. The hand work that suits Diwali is the kind that reads warmly under a lamp rather than the kind everyone turns to look at.
Questions we are asked
When is Diwali 2026?
Diwali night — Lakshmi pooja — is Sunday 8 November 2026. The five days run 6–10 November 2026: Dhanteras on the Friday, Kali Chaudas on the Saturday, Diwali on the Sunday, Bestu Varas on the Monday and Bhai Bij on the Tuesday.
When is Bestu Varas, the Gujarati New Year, in 2026?
Monday 9 November 2026 — Kartik Sud Ekam, the day after Diwali night. It opens Vikram Samvat 2083. It is not the same day as Diwali and it is not Bhai Bij, which is a distinction worth keeping straight: for a great many Gujarati households the New Year morning is the bigger occasion of the two, and it is the day new clothes are actually worn and seen.
Is there a colour you are supposed to wear for Diwali?
No — and this is where Diwali differs from Navratri, which does have a colour for each of its nine nights. Diwali has no assigned colours. What it has is a preference for new clothes, and for something bright enough to hold its own under lamplight. Many families avoid black and white on the pooja day, though plenty do not, and it varies house to house rather than by any rule we would quote at you.
What do people actually wear on each day?
Lightly for Dhanteras and Kali Chaudas — most people are working. The pooja evening is the dressed one, and Bestu Varas morning is the most dressed of the five, because that is the morning of visiting. Bhai Bij is family, and comfortable.
Do you make for men and children as well?
Yes, and for Diwali it is usually the whole household rather than one person — kurtas for the men, something for the children, and the women of the family planned together so the colours work across a room rather than clashing in the photographs.
How long do you need?
Diwali is 32 days away. Whether that is enough depends entirely on the hand work, and festive pieces move faster than bridal ones. Tell us the day you need it for and we will give you an honest answer rather than a hopeful one.
I am not in India. Can you still make something in time?
Often, yes. Measurements are taken together on a video call of about twenty minutes and the finished piece is couriered. Diwali is kept as fully in Leicester, New Jersey, Toronto and Melbourne as it is in Vadodara, and the studio sends festive pieces to all of them — but shipping wants a fortnight of its own, so the earlier you write the better.
Five days. Usually a whole household.
Tell us who you are dressing and the day it has to be ready, and we will tell you honestly what the hand work will take.