Vivah Panchami 2026: The Wedding Festival That Is Not a Wedding Date
Monday 14 December marks the wedding of Rama and Sita. It is not on December's list of marriage muhurats, and Kharmas closes the calendar two days later.
ShaadiNews Desk
Rituals & Planning
Editorial Summary & Key Highlights
Vivah Panchami 2026, the anniversary of the wedding of Rama and Sita on Margashirsha Shukla Panchami, falls on Monday 14 December in India and on Sunday 13 December in New York, according to DrikPanchang. In Delhi the Panchami tithi runs from 4:47 PM on 13 December to 7:15 PM on 14 December. The day is observed with fasting, puja to Rama and evening tableaux. It is not among DrikPanchang's seven December 2026 marriage dates, which are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 12 December, and a popular belief holds that the day should be avoided for weddings because of the hardships Rama and Sita faced after marriage, though no scriptural source is cited for it. Kharmas begins on 16 December and runs to 14 January 2027. In Janakpur, Nepal, the festival lasts seven days and re-enacts the wedding, with idols of Rama and Sita married at the Bahrabigha ground; the Janaki Mandir expected about 1.5 million devotees in 2019.
Key Insights
- •Vivah Panchami 2026 is Monday 14 December in India. The Panchami tithi runs from 4:47 PM on 13 December to 7:15 PM on 14 December.
- •DrikPanchang's December 2026 wedding dates are 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 12. Vivah Panchami is not among them.
- •Kharmas begins on 16 December, so 11 and 12 December are the last wedding dates of 2026.
Marble idols in a white temple shrine in Mumbai.
Vivah Panchami 2026 is on Monday 14 December in India. It marks the wedding of Rama and Sita, on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of Margashirsha. In New York it falls a day earlier, on Sunday 13 December.
It is a festival about a wedding that does not appear on the 2026 list of wedding dates, which matters to anyone planning a December ceremony.
The date and the tithi
In Delhi the Panchami tithi begins at 4:47 PM on Sunday 13 December and ends at 7:15 PM on Monday 14 December. DrikPanchang lists Vivah Panchami on the Monday for Delhi, and on the Sunday for New York.
DrikPanchang describes the day as one of fasting and puja, followed by an evening of tableaux and devotional singing, and notes the belief that worshipping Rama on this day brings blessings for a happy married life.
Why couples do not book it
DrikPanchang's list of auspicious marriage dates for December 2026 has seven days: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11 and 12 December. Vivah Panchami, on the 14th, is not one of them. Our December 2026 guide has the muhurat for each of those seven.
Popular writing on the festival gives a reason of its own. Rama and Sita's marriage was followed by exile, Sita's abduction and long separation, and so the day of their wedding is often described as one to avoid for weddings. That account is folk belief rather than scripture, and none of the sources we read cites a text for it. In practice the muhurat list already settles the question for 2026.
The calendar then closes. Kharmas begins on Wednesday 16 December and runs to 14 January 2027, and no Hindu weddings are held in that month. Our explainer on why weddings stop between 13 December and 14 January sets out the reason, and the season reopens with nine dates in January 2027.
Janakpur turns into a stage
The biggest celebration is in Janakpur, in Nepal, the city associated with Sita's father, King Janak. There the festival runs for seven days and re-enacts the whole wedding.
On the first day a couple in wedding clothes, playing Rama and Sita, is paraded around the city. The rituals that follow include Fulbari Lila, Tilakotsav, Dhanush Yagya, Matkor, Swayamvar and Ramkalewa. The Swayamvar is the centrepiece: an idol of Rama from the Ram Mandir and an idol of Sita from the Janaki Mandir are carried on separate palanquins to the Bahrabigha ground and married there.
For the length of the festival the chief priest of the Ram Mandir is treated as King Dasharath and the chief priest of the Janaki Mandir as King Janak. Hundreds of sadhus travel from India each year as the groom's procession and are received as wedding guests. In 2019 the Janaki Mandir expected around 1.5 million devotees.
If you are planning a wedding around it
A Vivah Panchami visit to Janakpur and a family wedding in the same week are not easy to combine, because the wedding would have to be on the 11th or 12th, two or three days before. If a December wedding is the plan, those two dates are also the last before Kharmas.
For the season that starts next month, the 2027 muhurat calendar sets out the dates month by month.
Quick Facts
- Vivah Panchami 2026
- Monday 14 December (India)
- New York
- Sunday 13 December
- Panchami tithi
- 4:47 PM 13 Dec to 7:15 PM 14 Dec IST
- December wedding dates
- 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12
- Kharmas begins
- Wednesday 16 December
- Janakpur festival
- Seven days
Dates and tithi times come from DrikPanchang's Vivah Panchami pages for New Delhi and New York. December wedding dates and Kharmas dates come from our earlier reporting, also based on DrikPanchang. The Janakpur account follows the Kathmandu Post. The belief about avoiding weddings is reported by Boldsky and is presented here as folk belief.
Reporting Sources:
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