Maggharਮੱਘਰ

Magghar is the ninth month of the Nanakshahi calendar and the month Punjab turns from autumn into winter. The harvest is home, the new wheat is in the ground, and the cold begins to bite at night. For Sikhs, Magghar carries the brightest and the gravest days of the late year side by side: the Parkash Gurpurab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, celebrated wherever Sikhs live, and the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, who gave his life for the freedom of another faith. Magghar follows Kattak and is followed by Poh; all twelve months are on the Desi Mahine page.

Magghar and its dates

Magghar has 30 days. In the fixed reckoning it runs from 14 November to 13 December. In the SGPC's published calendar for Nanakshahi 558 it begins on Monday 16 November 2026 and ends on 15 December 2026. Two of its great days are set by tithi rather than by the solar date, so their place in the month can move: Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Parkash is kept on the Kattak Purnima full moon, which in 558 falls on 9 Magghar, 24 November 2026, and the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji is placed by the same published calendar on 29 Magghar, 14 December 2026.

The season in Punjab

Winter announces itself in Magghar. The mornings turn cold, the first fog banks roll over the fields in the second half of the month, and travellers learn again to drive slowly through the murk. Days are short and pale gold, nights are long and properly cold, and the first frosts can touch the low-lying fields by the month's end. Indoors, life gathers around the hearth; outdoors, the young wheat and mustard stand in deep green rows, and Punjab's winter vegetables fill the markets.

The farming cycle in Magghar

Magghar is the month the rabi crop is made. Wheat sowing is finished in the first days of the month, and by its end the fields are green with young plants. Mustard sown in Kattak is in full leaf, and winter fodder crops such as berseem give their first cuts. Sugarcane harvesting and crushing get under way, and the kinnow orchards of the south-west begin to colour. It is a steadier month than Kattak: the work is watching, watering and weeding, and hoping the weather stays kind, since heavy fog and frost can scorch the young crops.

Festivals and Gurpurabs in Magghar

On 9 Magghar (24 November in 558) the Panth celebrates the Parkash Gurpurab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the founder of the Sikh faith, born at Rai Bhoi di Talwandi, now Nankana Sahib, in 1469. The day is kept with akhand paths completed at dawn, nagar kirtans, kirtan and rows of lamps, and the largest gatherings are at Nankana Sahib and Kartarpur in Pakistan and at Sri Darbar Sahib in Amritsar. The Gurpurab is traditionally dated to the full moon of the lunar month of Kattak, which is why a solar month later than Kattak can host it; the Kattak page explains the two reckonings.

Late in the month comes the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, the ninth Guru, executed at Delhi in 1675 for defending the right of others to practise their own faith, and honoured ever since as Hind di Chadar, the Shield of India. Two dates circulate for it: many calendars and holiday lists have long printed 11 Magghar, 24 November, while the SGPC's published Nanakshahi calendar keeps the day by its traditional tithi and in 558 places it on 29 Magghar, 14 December 2026, the date Punjab's official holiday list follows that year. The same published calendar also marks the Akal Chalana of Bhai Mardana Ji, Guru Nanak Dev Ji's lifelong companion, on 13 Magghar, the birth anniversary of Sahibzada Zorawar Singh Ji on 15 Magghar, and the Gurgaddi of Guru Gobind Singh Ji on 27 Magghar.

Magghar in the Barah Maha

Guru Arjan Dev Ji's Majh Barah Maha finds beauty in Magghar: ਮੰਘਰ ਮਾਹਿ ਸੋਹੰਦੀਆ ਹਰਿ ਪਿਰ ਸੰਗਿ ਬੈਠੜੀਆਹ ੥ (In Magghar, they look beauteous who sit together with their Beloved Husband Lord.) Body and mind blossom in the company of the saints, the stanza sings, while those who stay apart from that company remain alone with a pain that never lifts; to worship God in Magghar, it ends, is to be freed from the round of rebirth. Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Tukhari verses place the bride in the sangat itself: she listens to song, music and poetry, and on hearing the Lord's Name her sorrow simply runs away. For a month of long nights and early darkness, both Gurus offer the same remedy: sit together, sing, and remember.

When is Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Parkash Gurpurab in 2026?

On Tuesday 24 November 2026, which the SGPC's published Nanakshahi calendar counts as 9 Magghar 558. The Gurpurab follows the traditional Kattak Purnima full-moon tithi, so the solar month it falls in can shift from year to year.

When is the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji?

Printed calendars have long used 11 Magghar, 24 November. The SGPC's published calendar for Nanakshahi 558 keeps the day by its tithi and observes it on 29 Magghar, Monday 14 December 2026, which is also the date on Punjab's official holiday list for 2026. Check the current year's published calendar before travelling.

How many days does Magghar have?

Magghar has 30 days.