When Holika Dahan and Rangwali Holi fall each year, the Bhadra-free muhurat, the legend behind the festival, and how it is celebrated across India.
Holi & Holika Dahan Dates (2026–2030)
How Pikaaso compiled these dates: our team verified each date and puja muhurat against multiple independent panchang authorities across India’s regional traditions — the same almanacs family priests rely on — rather than a single online source. Where authorities differ (some years the festival date itself varies by region), we show it openly. We refresh this page as fresh muhurats are published.
Holika Dahan muhurat times shown are for New Delhi (IST) and depend on sunset and the Bhadra-free window — localise to your city and confirm with your priest. Some years the Holika Dahan date itself differs by region (Purnima/Bhadra timing); those are marked Disputed with both dates shown.
| Year | Holika Dahan | Holika Dahan Muhurat (New Delhi) | Rangwali Holi (colours) | Confidence |
|---|
| 2026 | Tuesday, 3 March 2026 (most northern/eastern India) – DISPUTED with Monday, 2 March 2026 (some western states) ⓘ | 06:22 PM – 08:50 PM IST | Wednesday, 4 March 2026 (Drik Panchang / AstroSage) – DISPUTED with Tuesday, 3 March 2026 (Muhuratam pairing) | Disputed |
| 2027 | Sunday, 21 March 2027 (majority/recommended) – minority sources say Monday, 22 March 2027 ⓘ | 06:33 PM – 08:55 PM IST | Monday, 22 March 2027 (majority/recommended) – minority sources say Tuesday, 23 March 2027 | Disputed |
| 2028 | Friday, 10 March 2028 ⓘ | 06:27 PM – 08:52 PM IST | Saturday, 11 March 2028 | Medium |
| 2029 | Wednesday, 28 February 2029 ⓘ | 06:20 PM – 08:49 PM IST | Thursday, 1 March 2029 | High |
| 2030 | Tuesday, 19 March 2030 ⓘ | 06:32 PM – 08:54 PM IST | Wednesday, 20 March 2030 | High |
Sources & verification notes
HOLI – THREE YEARS HIGH, ONE MEDIUM, TWO DISPUTED.
– 2029 (HIGH): Holika Dahan Wed 28 Feb / Rangwali Holi Thu 1 Mar – agreed across Drik Panchang, AstroSage, dekhopanchang, Muhuratam, jyotishasha, mPanchang; evening muhurat fully Bhadra-free. (A stray 'March 29/30 2029' search snippet is a search-engine conflation – disregarded.)
– 2030 (HIGH): Holika Dahan Tue 19 Mar / Rangwali Holi Wed 20 Mar – agreed across Drik Panchang, AstroSage, Muhuratam, mPanchang, whenisfestivals; evening muhurat fully Bhadra-free.
– 2028 (MEDIUM – date firm, muhurat caveat): Holika Dahan Fri 10 Mar / Rangwali Holi Sat 11 Mar is UNDISPUTED across all sources. Confidence is dropped to Medium ONLY because this is the one 'evening-Bhadra' year: Bhadra Mukha runs to ~7:37-7:49 PM on 10 Mar and overlaps the published 6:27-8:52 PM muhurat. Drik Panchang/AstroSage publish the Pradosh-Purnima window and annotate Bhadra
The Significance of Holi
Holi is the Hindu festival of colours marking the triumph of good over evil and the arrival of spring. It falls on Phalguna Purnima (the full-moon day of the lunar month Phalguna, Feb-March), with the bonfire night of Holika Dahan on the eve and the riotous play of colours (Rangwali Holi / Dhulandi) the next day.
THE HOLIKA-PRAHLAD LEGEND (why the bonfire): The demon-king Hiranyakashipu, granted a near-invincibility boon, demanded to be worshipped as god. His own son Prahlad remained an unwavering devotee of Vishnu. Enraged, the king ordered his sister Holika – who had a boon (or a cloak) protecting her from fire – to sit in a blazing pyre with Prahlad on her lap to kill him. By divine will the protection failed her: Holika was consumed by the flames while the devoted Prahlad emerged unharmed. The Holika Dahan bonfire re-enacts this burning, symbolising the destruction of arrogance, cruelty and evil, and the protection of sincere devotion (bhakti). It is this episode that gives the festival its name. (The next day Vishnu as Narasimha slays Hiranyakashipu – the wider Vaishnava backdrop.)
VICTORY OF DEVOTION & MORAL PURIFICATION: Lighting and circumambulating the fire is treated as a cleansing rite – burning away negativity, ego and the 'inner Holika', and renewing the community in dharma before the new season.
ARRIVAL OF SPRING (Vasant): Holi is also a harvest and seasonal festival welcoming spring (Vasant Ritu), when winter crops ripen. The colours, flowers and abandon celebrate fertility, renewal and the blossoming of nature.
RADHA-KRISHNA IN BRAJ: In the Braj region (Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana, Nandgaon – Krishna's homeland) Holi is supremely the festival of divine love. A young, dark-complexioned Krishna, self-conscious about his colour beside the fair Radha, playfully smeared colour on her – and from this lila grew the tradition of lovers and devotees colouring one another. Braj Holi blends devotion (bhakti), play and romance, and the celebrations there are the most elaborate and prolonged in India.
How Holi is celebrated across India
HOW IT IS CELEBRATED (core): On Holika Dahan evening, families and neighbourhoods gather around a community bonfire built of wood and dung-cakes, often topped with an effigy of Holika; they offer grains, coconut, and roasted new-harvest crops (wheat ears, chana), circumambulate the fire, and take home embers/ash as blessed. The next morning is Rangwali Holi: people throw gulal (dry colour), drench each other with coloured water (pichkari water-guns, water balloons), sing and dance, exchange sweets (gujiya, mathri, malpua), and drink thandai (sometimes laced with bhang). Afternoon is for bathing, fresh clothes and visiting elders and friends to apply a respectful tilak of colour.
- REGIONAL VARIATIONS:
- BRAJ / BARSANA LATHMAR HOLI (Uttar Pradesh): The most famous regional form. In Barsana and Nandgaon, women playfully beat shield-carrying men with sticks (lath) in a re-enactment of Krishna's teasing visits from Nandgaon to Radha's Barsana. The Braj cycle (Phoolon-wali Holi with flowers at Vrindavan's Banke Bihari temple, Widows' Holi at Vrindavan, Lathmar at Barsana/Nandgaon) runs for over a week and is steeped in Radha-Krishna devotion.
- BENGAL / ODISHA – DOL JATRA & BASANTA UTSAV: Called Dol Jatra/Dol Purnima, idols of Krishna and Radha are placed on a decorated swing (dol/dola) and carried in procession while devotees sing and apply abir/gulal. Tagore's Santiniketan celebrates it as Basanta Utsav (Spring Festival) with students in spring colours performing music and dance – a refined, cultural rendering of Holi.
- SOUTH INDIA – KAMADAHANA / KAMAVILAS: In Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu the festival centres on Kama, god of love. The bonfire is the burning of Kamadeva – recalling how Shiva incinerated Kama with his third eye when Kama tried to disturb his meditation (Kama is later revived at Rati's plea). Effigies of Kama are burnt; the festival is more devotional and less colour-soaked than in the north.
- PUNJAB – HOLA MOHALLA: Established by Guru Gobind Singh, the Sikh festival of Hola Mohalla is held the day after Holi at Anandpur Sahib. The Nihangs display martial arts (gatka), mock battles, horsemanship, and there are kirtan, poetry and langar – a celebration of valour and discipline rather than colour-play.
- OTHER NOTABLE FORMS: Maharashtra/Gujarat – Rang Panchami and matki-phod (breaking a high pot of buttermilk, Krishna's makhan-chori); Gujarat's Dhuleti. Bihar/UP – Phaguwa with folk songs and water. Manipur – Yaosang, six days blending Holi with the Thabal Chongba dance. Rajasthan – royal Holi at Udaipur/Jaipur with processions and horses. Goa – Shigmo, a spring carnival with parades and folk dances.
Sending Holi wishes
Families and friends exchange warm Holi wishes – "Happy Holi", "Holi Hai!", "रंगों का त्योहार मुबारक", and Braj-flavoured greetings like "Radhe Radhe" or "Holi ki hardik shubhkamnayein". The customary tone is colourful, playful and affectionate, often referencing colours (rang), gulal, water, sweets (gujiya) and Radha-Krishna.
Traditionally wishes are carried in person – visiting elders and neighbours, applying a tilak of gulal on the forehead, touching feet of elders, and sharing a plate of gujiya and thandai. Greeting cards with colour-splash, pichkari and Radha-Krishna motifs were the classic remote-greeting medium.
Today, families increasingly send digital Holi greetings: personalised WhatsApp/Instagram messages, animated colour-burst e-cards, and short personalised greeting videos (with the recipient's name, a Holi song, and colour/gulal animation) shared in family and friend groups. Such cards and videos commonly invoke spring, colours, sweets and well-wishes for prosperity and renewed bonds, and are timed to go out on Holika Dahan night or the morning of Rangwali Holi. Businesses send branded Holi greetings to customers in the same window.
Holi — Frequently Asked Questions
What time is Holika Dahan in 2026, and on which day?
Holika Dahan 2026 is on the evening of Tuesday, 3 March 2026 in most of northern/eastern India (some western states observe it on Monday, 2 March – the date is region-dependent this year). The Holika Dahan muhurat (Bhadra-free Pradosh window) is about 6:22 PM to 8:50 PM IST for New Delhi (roughly 2 hr 28 min), per Drik Panchang and AstroSage. Rangwali Holi (colours) is the next day, Wednesday, 4 March 2026 (Muhuratam instead pairs a 2 March bonfire with 3 March colours). Times are New Delhi reference – localise for your city, as sunset shifts the start.
What is the difference between Holika Dahan and Holi (Rangwali Holi)?
They are two parts of the same festival on consecutive days. Holika Dahan (also Chhoti Holi) is the bonfire ritual on the eve of Phalguna Purnima – lit after sunset to re-enact the burning of the demoness Holika and the saving of the devotee Prahlad, symbolising the victory of good over evil. Rangwali Holi (Dhulandi/Dhuleti) is the next morning – the joyful play with colours, water, sweets and music. In short: Holika Dahan is the solemn fire the night before; Rangwali Holi is the festival of colours the day after.
Why is Bhadra avoided for Holika Dahan?
Bhadra (Vishti Karana) is an inauspicious half-tithi period personified as a fierce deity; Hindu scriptures hold that auspicious and protective rites performed during Bhadra can bring harm rather than benefit. Because Holika Dahan is meant to destroy evil and protect the household, it must be done when Purnima prevails during Pradosh (after sunset) AND Bhadra is over. Panchang sites therefore compute a Bhadra-free Pradosh window as the muhurat. The most cautioned sub-period is Bhadra Mukha (the 'face/mouth' of Bhadra), which must be avoided entirely; the closing Bhadra Punchha (the 'tail') is considered the least harmful if no other option exists. In 2028 in particular, Bhadra falls in the early evening, so the strictly Bhadra-free window is narrower – check a local panchang.
How do Holika Dahan muhurat times differ by city, and is the time the same everywhere in India?
No. The muhurat depends on local sunset (which defines Pradosh kaal) and on the exact end of Bhadra, so it shifts by city. The widely quoted windows are calculated for New Delhi IST. A city further west or south (e.g., Mumbai, Bengaluru) has a later sunset and a different Pradosh window than Kolkata in the east. Always check a panchang for your own city; treat the New Delhi times as a reference, not an exact local muhurat.
Is Holi 2026 affected by the lunar eclipse (Chandra Grahan)?
A total lunar eclipse falls on 3 March 2026, which caused public debate about the date. However, per Drik Panchang and AstroSage the Holika Dahan observance on the evening of 3 March (Pradosh kaal, with Purnima prevailing) stands, and Rangwali Holi is 4 March. Eclipse 'sutak' considerations differ by tradition and the eclipse's visibility/timing over India, so families who observe sutak should consult their local panchang or priest for that specific overlap; the core festival dates are unchanged.
Why does the Holi date change every year and range from late February to late March?
Holi follows the Hindu lunisolar calendar and is fixed to Phalguna Purnima (the full moon of the month Phalguna), not the Gregorian calendar. Because lunar months drift against the solar year (and are periodically corrected by an extra month, Adhik Maas), the full moon lands on a different Gregorian date each year – usually somewhere in February-March. That is why, in these five years, Holi ranges from 28 Feb (2029) to 22 March (2027).
What are the Holi (Rangwali Holi) dates for 2026 to 2030?
Rangwali Holi (the colours day) falls on: 4 March 2026 (Wed; disputed – some sources/regions say 3 March), 22 March 2027 (Mon; a minority say 23 March), 11 March 2028 (Sat), 1 March 2029 (Thu), and 20 March 2030 (Wed). The corresponding Holika Dahan bonfire is the previous evening: 3 March 2026 (or 2 March in some western states), 21 March 2027, 10 March 2028, 28 February 2029, and 19 March 2030. The 2026 and 2027 day-assignments are the contested ones; 2028-2030 are consistent across sources.
What should be done during the Holika Dahan muhurat?
Within the Bhadra-free Pradosh window, the community lights the pre-built pyre of wood and dung-cakes (often with an effigy of Holika). Devotees perform a short puja, offer water, roli, rice, flowers, coconut and new-harvest grains (wheat ears, gram), light the fire, and do parikrama (circumambulation) 3, 5 or 7 times praying for protection and prosperity. Roasting the season's new grains in the fire and carrying home the sanctified ash/embers are traditional. It should be completed during the muhurat, after sunset and before midnight, with Bhadra fully avoided.
