Diwali 2026 Lakshmi Puja Muhurat in USA, UK, Canada, Australia & UAE: City-Wise Timings (Not IST)

Lakshmi Puja is performed on the day Amavasya prevails during Pradosh Kaal. On November 8 Amavasya covers the evening in every city listed here; by the evening of November 9 it has ended everywhere. Dhanteras follows the same logic with Trayodashi tithi, which covers the evening of Friday, November 6 worldwide.

Remember that clocks have already changed by Diwali: the US and Canada fall back on November 1 and the UK and Europe on October 25, while Australia and New Zealand are on daylight time. All city times below are local clock time for November 2026.

Pradosh Kaal is the first fifth of the night: it begins at local sunset and lasts until one-fifth of the time to the next sunrise has passed - about two and a half hours in November in the Northern Hemisphere, closer to two hours in Australia and New Zealand. Vrishabha Lagna is the period when sidereal Taurus is rising on your eastern horizon. Taurus is a fixed sign, and Lakshmi is invited in a fixed Lagna so that she stays. The recommended muhurat is the overlap of the two, within Amavasya.

Sunset depends on your latitude and longitude, and the rising sign depends on your local sidereal time - so both have to be recalculated for every city. That is why a Panchang printed in India cannot simply be shifted by the time difference. The muhurats below were computed for each city from its own sunset, next sunrise and rising Lagna, using the same method that gives New Delhi its 5:55 PM to 7:50 PM window.

Times are Eastern, Central or Pacific Standard Time. The first time range is the recommended Pradosh-Vrishabha muhurat; the Pradosh window in brackets is the wider evening period in which the puja is also valid.

Times are local standard time.

At northern latitudes the Sun sets early and Taurus rises soon after, so the muhurat starts in the late afternoon. If you are returning from work or the mandir, the wider Pradosh window still keeps you within the classical time.

Close to India in both longitude and latitude, the Gulf has muhurats of almost two hours that sit comfortably in the early evening.

In the tropics and the Southern Hemisphere, Vrishabha rises later after sunset, so the muhurat begins with Vrishabha and ends when Pradosh Kaal closes. The windows are shorter - around an hour and a half in Australia and New Zealand - so set up the altar before sunset.

For reference, the same calculation for major Indian cities, in IST.

Dhanteras is kept on the evening Trayodashi prevails during Pradosh Kaal, and in 2026 that is Friday, November 6 in every city here. Dhanvantari and Lakshmi-Kuber puja, the purchase of metal or a new utensil, and Yama Deepam - a lamp placed outside the home facing south - all belong to this evening. The muhurat is again the Pradosh-Vrishabha overlap, calculated locally.

Clean the home in the days before, draw a rangoli at the entrance, and set the altar on a raised, clean surface - in the north-east of the home if you can - with Ganesha and Lakshmi together. Begin with a sankalp that names your own city - the tradition is explicit that the ritual is performed where you are. Worship Ganesha first, then Lakshmi with the five or sixteen offerings your family follows, then Kuber; many Gujarati families perform Chopda Pujan of account books - today often a laptop or ledger - in the same window.

Apartments bring practical questions that no Panchang answers. Keep open flames well away from smoke detectors, sprinklers and curtains, never leave diyas unattended, and check building or strata rules before lighting lamps on balconies. Where open flames are not allowed, many families keep one ghee diya at the altar during the puja itself and use LED diyas for decoration - the muhurat and the bhava are what matter.

Lakshmi Puja asks for prosperity in general; your birth chart shows how and when prosperity tends to arrive for you. Wealth is read from the 2nd house (savings and family resources) and the 11th (income and gains), their lords, the strength of Jupiter and Venus, and the running Vimshottari Dasha that switches those promises on.

Late 2026 is also a turning point in the sky: Rahu and Ketu change signs on December 5, moving onto the Capricorn-Cancer axis and shifting the houses they activate in every chart. If you are weighing a job move, an investment or the purchase of a home, a reading of your own Dasha and transits for the year ahead is the most practical Diwali sankalp you can make.