A day’s fast for the moon
Karva Chauth in the UK 2026
Karva Chauth 2026: Thursday, 29 October 2026
Karva Chauth 2026 in the UK is on Thursday, 29 October 2026. 2 Karva Chauth events are listed below, in London and Slough.
Southall, Wembley, Leicester and Birmingham’s Soho Road fill with mehndi stalls and bazaars the week before; the mandirs hold the katha in the late afternoon and the community waits for the moon outside.
Karva Chauth events in the UK2 listed
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What Karva Chauth is
The north Indian fast married women keep from sunrise to moonrise for their husbands — abroad, a mehndi evening, the sargi before dawn, the bazaar the week before and a moon that rises early.
Karva Chauth falls on the fourth day after the full moon of Kartik, eleven days before Diwali. Married women — and, increasingly, engaged ones and husbands too — keep a fast without food or water from before dawn until the moon is sighted, break it with water offered through a sieve, and dress as a bride for the day: mehndi the evening before, the sargi (a pre-dawn meal from the mother-in-law) and the karva, the clay pot, at the evening katha.
If it is your first one in the UK
- The fast ends at the sighting of the moon, not at a fixed hour — check the moonrise time for your city; in a northern autumn it is early evening.
- Book mehndi for the evening before; the artists are fully booked in the fortnight before Diwali.
Questions people ask
- When is Karva Chauth 2026 in the UK?
- Karva Chauth 2026 falls on Thursday, 29 October 2026. It is not a public holiday in the United Kingdom, so the community celebrates on the weekends around it — 2 events are listed on this page, each with its own date.
- Where can I celebrate Karva Chauth in the UK?
- Southall, Wembley, Leicester and Birmingham’s Soho Road fill with mehndi stalls and bazaars the week before; the mandirs hold the katha in the late afternoon and the community waits for the moon outside. This year’s listings so far are in London, Slough.
- Can non-Indians go to Karva Chauth events in the UK?
- Yes. Almost every community event is open to everyone and runs in English; temple and gurdwara celebrations welcome visitors too — dress modestly, and cover your head in a gurdwara.
More festivals in the UK
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