Bengali Festival Calendar 2027: Dates for Durga Puja, Poila Boishakh, Kali Puja and More
Bengali festivals run on two different clocks. Some, such as Poila Boishakh and Poush Sankranti, follow the sun. Others, such as Durga Puja, Kali Puja and Saraswati Puja, follow lunar days (tithis) in the traditional panjika. This guide lists the expected 2027 dates for the major Bengali festivals and cultural days, month by month, and notes every place where published calendars disagree by a day.
Bengali festival dates 2027 at a glance
Date | Day | Festival | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
Jan 12 | Tuesday | Swami Vivekananda birth anniversary | West Bengal regional holiday |
Jan 14–15 | Thu–Fri | Poush Sankranti, Gangasagar Mela peak | Sources differ by a day |
Jan 23 | Saturday | Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti | West Bengal regional holiday |
Feb 11 | Thursday | Saraswati Puja (Vasant Panchami) | Magha Shukla Panchami |
Feb 21 | Sunday | International Mother Language Day (Ekushey February) | Fixed date |
Mar 6 | Saturday | Maha Shivaratri | Per Bengali calendar listings |
Mar 22 | Monday | Dol Jatra (Holi) | Falgun Purnima |
Apr 15 | Thursday | Poila Boishakh 1434 (West Bengal) | Bangladesh observes Apr 14 |
May 9 | Sunday | Rabindra Jayanti (25 Boishakh) | Gregorian birth date is May 7 |
Jun 10 | Thursday | Jamai Sasthi | Some calendars list Jun 9 |
Jul 5 | Monday | Rath Yatra | Ashadha Shukla Dwitiya |
Aug 25 | Wednesday | Janmashtami | One reckoning gives Aug 24 |
Sep 29–30 | Wed–Thu | Mahalaya | Sources differ by a day |
Oct 5–10 | Tue–Sun | Durga Puja (Shashthi to Dashami) | Bengal reckoning |
Oct 14–15 | Thu–Fri | Kojagari Lakshmi Puja | Purnima spans both days |
Oct 28–29 | Thu–Fri | Kali Puja and Diwali | Kali Puja is performed at night |
Oct 31 | Sunday | Bhai Phonta | Second day after Kali Puja |
Nov 7 | Sunday | Jagaddhatri Puja | Kartik Shukla Navami |
Dec 25 | Saturday | Christmas | Regional holiday in West Bengal |
How to read these dates
Solar and civil dates are firm. Days tied to the Gregorian calendar, such as Netaji Jayanti on January 23 and International Mother Language Day on February 21, do not move.
Tithi-based dates can shift by a day. A tithi is a lunar day, and it does not line up neatly with a calendar day. When a tithi starts or ends part-way through a day, different panjikas can assign the festival to different dates. The sources used for this guide disagree by a day on several festivals, and those cases are flagged below.
West Bengal and Bangladesh differ on Poila Boishakh. Bangladesh follows the Bangla Academy calendar reformed in 1987, which fixes the new year on April 14. West Bengal follows the traditional panjika, which places Poila Boishakh on April 15 in 2027.
Check the official list for holidays. The Government of West Bengal publishes its own holiday list for state employees. For public holiday dates, treat that list as the final word.
January 2027
Swami Vivekananda birth anniversary: Tuesday, January 12
Swami Vivekananda was born on January 12, 1863. The day is listed as a regional holiday in West Bengal.
Poush Sankranti and Gangasagar Mela: January 14–15
Poush Sankranti is the last day of the Bengali month of Poush. It marks the Sun’s entry into Capricorn (Makara), and it is the harvest festival of Bengal. Bengali homes mark it with freshly harvested rice, khejurer gur (date palm jaggery) and pithe and patishapta-style sweets made with rice flour, coconut and milk.
The annual Gangasagar Mela, held where the Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal, peaks on Makar Sankranti. Published calendars list the date as either January 14 or January 15, 2027, so confirm it nearer the date.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Jayanti: Saturday, January 23
Subhas Chandra Bose was born on January 23, 1897. The day is a regional holiday in West Bengal, Assam, Odisha and Tripura.
February 2027
Saraswati Puja: Thursday, February 11
Saraswati Puja, also called Vasant Panchami or Shree Panchami, falls on Magha Shukla Panchami. In 2027 the Panchami tithi begins at 3:04 AM on February 11 and ends at 3:18 AM on February 12, which places the festival on Thursday, February 11. The festival marks the arrival of spring and is dedicated to the goddess of learning, music and the arts. In West Bengal, most schools arrange Saraswati Puja for their students on their premises.
International Mother Language Day: Sunday, February 21
February 21 commemorates the 1952 Language Movement in what was then East Pakistan. UNESCO proclaimed it International Mother Language Day in 1999. In Bengali it is known as Ekushey February.
March 2027
Maha Shivaratri: Saturday, March 6
Bengali calendar summaries for 2027 list Maha Shivaratri, observed in the month of Falgun, on Saturday, March 6.
Dol Jatra: Monday, March 22
Dol Jatra, also called Dol Purnima or Basanta Utsav, is observed on the full moon day (Purnima) of Falgun. The word “Dol” means swing, and idols of Radha and Krishna are carried in decorated palanquins in procession. Colored powder, known in Bengal as phag, is part of the celebration. The day is also the birth anniversary of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534), the Bhakti movement saint of Bengal. At Santiniketan, Rabindranath Tagore introduced Basanta Utsav at Visva-Bharati as a spring festival of music, dance and poetry. Dol Jatra is a regional public holiday in West Bengal.
April 2027
Poila Boishakh (Bengali New Year 1434): Thursday, April 15 in West Bengal
Poila Boishakh is the first day of the first month of the Bengali calendar, and it marks Mesha Sankranti. The traditional greeting is Shubho Noboborsho. Traders close the old year’s accounts and open new ledgers in a ceremony called Haal Khata, and shops offer sweets to customers. The start of the Bengali era is estimated at 594 CE, so the Bengali year is 593 or 594 years behind the Gregorian year, depending on whether the date falls before or after Poila Boishakh.
In 2027, West Bengal observes Poila Boishakh on Thursday, April 15, while Bangladesh observes it on Wednesday, April 14. The year number, 1434, is the same on both sides of the border.
May 2027
Rabindra Jayanti (Pochishe Boishakh): Sunday, May 9
Rabindranath Tagore was born in Kolkata on May 7, 1861, which is the 25th of Boishakh in the Bengali calendar. West Bengal observes his birth anniversary by the Bengali date, known as Pochishe Boishakh, and the 25th of Boishakh falls on May 8 or May 9 depending on the year. In 2027 it is Sunday, May 9, and it marks his 166th birth anniversary. Other Indian states observe the day on the Gregorian date, May 7.
June 2027
Jamai Sasthi: Thursday, June 10
Jamai Sasthi is observed on Shukla Shashthi in the Bengali month of Joishtho. Mothers-in-law invite their sons-in-law home, honor them with a feast, and tie a yellow thread on the wrist. The festival is also linked to worship of Goddess Shashthi, the protector of children. Bengali calendars list June 10, 2027. Drik Panchang’s computation for a US location gives June 9, so the one-day difference noted above applies here too.
July 2027
Rath Yatra: Monday, July 5
Rath Yatra, the chariot festival of Lord Jagannath, falls on Ashadha Shukla Dwitiya. Bengali calendar listings place it on Monday, July 5, 2027.
August 2027
Janmashtami: Wednesday, August 25
Janmashtami celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna on the eighth day (Ashtami) of the dark fortnight. Most calendars list Wednesday, August 25, 2027, and the Bangladesh calendar converts that date to 10 Bhadra 1434. One panjika that applies the midnight (Nishita Kaal) rule strictly lists Tuesday, August 24. Devotees fast until midnight, the hour of Krishna’s birth.
September 2027
Mahalaya: September 29 or 30
Mahalaya falls on the new moon (Amavasya) before Durga Puja. It ends Pitru Paksha, the fortnight dedicated to ancestors, and begins Devi Paksha, the fortnight of the goddess. Devotees offer tarpan to ancestors and recite the Chandi, and Mahalaya is widely understood as the start of the Durga Puja countdown. Published calendars give Wednesday, September 29 or Thursday, September 30, 2027, so check a local panjika.
October 2027
Durga Puja 2027: Tuesday, October 5 to Sunday, October 10
Durga Puja in Kolkata was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2021. In 2027, the Bengali schedule runs from Maha Shashthi on October 5 to Bijoya Dashami on October 10.
Date | Day | Observance |
|---|---|---|
Oct 5 | Tuesday | Maha Shashthi: the goddess is welcomed, and the puja begins |
Oct 6 | Wednesday | Maha Saptami: Nabapatrika Snan and Kolabou Puja |
Oct 7 | Thursday | Maha Ashtami: Kumari Puja |
Oct 8 | Friday | Sandhi Puja in the early morning, at the junction of Ashtami and Navami |
Oct 9 | Saturday | Maha Navami |
Oct 10 | Sunday | Bijoya Dashami: Devi Baran, Sindoor Khela and Visarjan |
Why you will see different dates online. The Ashtami tithi begins at about 4:13 AM on October 7 and ends at 6:27 AM on October 8, so it straddles two calendar days. Some holiday lists therefore show Ashtami on October 8. The Sandhi Puja window is the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of Navami, which puts it just before 6:27 AM on October 8. In the all-India reckoning, Navami is October 8 and Vijayadashami (Dussehra) is October 9, while Bengal keeps Navami on October 9 and Bijoya Dashami on October 10.
Kojagari Lakshmi Puja: October 14 or 15
Kojagari Lakshmi Puja is performed on the full moon night after Durga Puja. The Purnima tithi begins at about 6:49 PM on October 14 and ends at about 7:16 PM on October 15, so Bengali calendars may list either Thursday, October 14 or Friday, October 15.
Kali Puja and Diwali: October 28–29
Kali Puja is performed at night on the new moon (Amavasya). In 2027, the Amavasya tithi begins at about 8:48 PM on Thursday, October 28, and a Bengal calendar places the Nishita Kaal (midnight) worship at about 11:41 PM that night. Many all-India calendars list Diwali on Friday, October 29, which is why the two dates appear together.
Bhai Phonta: Sunday, October 31
Bhai Phonta is the festival of sisters and brothers. It is observed on the second day after Kali Puja, and two 2027 calendars list Sunday, October 31.
November 2027
Jagaddhatri Puja: Sunday, November 7
Jagaddhatri Puja is held on Kartik Shukla Navami, and Bengali calendar summaries for 2027 list Sunday, November 7.
December 2027
December 2027
Christmas Day: Saturday, December 25
Christmas is a regional holiday in West Bengal, and it is observed in all Indian states.
Other festivals observed in Bengal in 2027
Bengal’s calendar is shared by many communities. The dates below are the expected dates for 2027, and the Islamic dates depend on moon sighting, so they can shift by a day.
Date | Festival |
|---|---|
Mar 9–10 | Eid-ul-Fitr (Bangladesh calendar: Mar 10) |
Mar 26 | Good Friday |
May 17 | Eid-ul-Adha |
May 20 | Buddha Purnima |
Jun 16 | Ashura |
Frequently asked questions
When is Durga Puja 2027?
Durga Puja 2027 runs from Tuesday, October 5 (Maha Shashthi) to Sunday, October 10 (Bijoya Dashami) in the Bengal reckoning.
When is Poila Boishakh 2027?
In West Bengal it is Thursday, April 15, 2027, which begins Bengali year 1434. In Bangladesh it is Wednesday, April 14.
When is Saraswati Puja 2027?
Thursday, February 11, 2027
When is Kali Puja 2027?
Kali Puja is performed on the night of Thursday, October 28, 2027, and many calendars list Diwali on October 29.
When is Bhai Phonta 2027?
Sunday, October 31, 2027.
When is Rabindra Jayanti 2027?
Sunday, May 9, 2027, which is 25 Boishakh and the 166th anniversary of Tagore’s birth.
Why do Bengali festival dates differ between websites?
Tithi-based festivals depend on when a lunar day starts and ends, and different panjikas calculate this differently. A one-day difference is common, and the official West Bengal holiday list is the authority for public holidays.
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