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Why puja times change by city

Festival puja times are set by the Sun and Moon as seen from where you are. That is why Lakshmi Puja is at a different time in Chicago than in Toronto, and why a festival can even fall on a different day than in India.

The tithi is the same moment everywhere

Most festivals are tied to a tithi, a lunar day defined by the angle between the Sun and the Moon. A tithi begins and ends at the same instant all over the world. Diwali, for example, is observed on Amavasya, the new-moon tithi, of the month of Kartika in the north Indian calendar.

The puja window is local

Each festival also names a part of the day when its puja is performed: Pradosh Kaal, the period after sunset, for Lakshmi Puja; Nishita Kaal, around midnight, for Maha Shivaratri; the early morning for others. These periods are measured from your local sunrise and sunset, which change with latitude, longitude and the season. Two cities in the same time zone can have puja windows several minutes apart.

Why the date can differ from India's

The festival is observed on the local day when its tithi is in force during the required period. North America is 9½ to 13½ hours behind India, so the same tithi meets a different local evening or midnight. Often the date matches India's; sometimes the rule is satisfied a day earlier here, and occasionally on two days or neither, when traditions differ on which day to choose.

How VendaNorth calculates it

For each festival and each city we find the tithi's exact span, compute the local period from that city's sunrise and sunset, and apply the festival's rule. Where the rule could reasonably give either of two days, the date is marked for a reviewer to confirm. Every festival is checked by our Jyotish reviewer before it is published. See the festival calendar for your city, or find a Muhurat for any day.