Chhath Puja 2026 in Cerritos: Events, Puja & Where to Celebrate

TL;DR

• 🌞 Chhath Puja 2026 runs November 13–16; Usha Arghya (sunrise) is on November 16
• Cerritos is one of Southern California's most established Indian-American communities, adjacent to Artesia (Little India corridor)
• Sri Venkateswara Annamacharya Society Of America has deep roots in the Cerritos area
• Organization Of Hindu Malayalees serves the community with cultural and religious programming
• 🕯️ For Chhath ghat access, connect with Purvanchali and Bihari community groups in the LA metro early

Cerritos, California, is one of those Southern California cities where the percentage of South Asian residents is high enough that you can find proper puja materials at a local Indian grocer, hear Bhojpuri or Maithili conversations in a community park, and spot handmade thekua in a neighbor's kitchen window during the last week of October. The city's proximity to Artesia — widely known as Little India — makes it one of the best-positioned Indian-American communities in California for observing festivals like Chhath Puja.

Chhath is a festival of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, centered on direct sun worship from a natural water body. No elaborate temple ritual is required; the puja is performed outdoors at a river, lake, or any body of clean water where the sky is visible. The Los Angeles area's sunshine, its park lakes, and its large Desi diaspora make Chhath increasingly observable here.

The Four Days of Chhath Puja 2026

Nahay Khay (November 13): The first day begins with a predawn bath and a one-time meal of bottle gourd sabzi and chana dal, cooked on a wood fire if possible. The vrat holder eats once and spends the day in a state of physical and mental purity.

Kharna (November 14): A full fast broken only at sunset with kheer made from cow's milk and jaggery. After this meal, the votary begins a 36-hour waterless fast — no food, no water — until the final sunrise arghya is complete.

Sandhya Arghya (November 15, Sunday): Families gather at a water body late in the afternoon. At sunset, the votary and her family wade into the water to offer fruits, sugarcane, coconut, thekua, and raw turmeric root to Surya Dev, the sun god.

Usha Arghya (November 16): Pre-sunrise arrival at the ghat. The rising sun receives the final offering, and the fast breaks with prasad — thekua first, then fresh fruits.

Cerritos's Indian-American Community

Cerritos's South Asian population includes a significant segment of Telugu, Tamil, Malayali, and North Indian families, making it a city where multiple Hindu traditions overlap and support one another.

Organization Of Hindu Malayalees, based in the Cerritos area at 13856 Reva St, Cerritos, CA 90703, serves the Hindu Malayali community in Southern California through cultural programs, festival observances, and community events. While the Malayali tradition has its own festival calendar — Onam, Vishu, Thiruvathira — the organization's presence reflects the breadth of Hindu community life in Cerritos.

Sri Venkateswara Annamacharya Society Of America (SVASA), with a registered address at 17707 Kensington Ave, Cerritos, CA 90703, is a nonprofit religious organization dedicated to the Telugu devotional tradition and the memory of the 15th-century composer Tallapaka Annamacharya. SVASA has organized annual Jayanthi celebrations in the Southern California area for over 35 consecutive years, and its network is tightly woven into the fabric of Cerritos's South Indian diaspora.

The Hindu Temple of Southern California, with its main facility in nearby Norwalk, serves South Indian devotees from across the South Bay and Long Beach corridor, and during major festivals it draws worshippers from Cerritos and neighboring communities.

For Chhath Puja specifically, the most active community networks in Southern California are the North Indian and Bihari-Purvanchali groups. Bihari community members across the LA metro have organized shared ghats at parks with accessible water bodies in recent years, coordinating through social media groups and community samitis.

Insider Tip: Artesia's Pioneer Boulevard (the Little India strip) is the best place in the South Bay for Chhath puja essentials: earthen diyas, bamboo sup baskets, raw turmeric (aradi), thekua mix, and sugarcane stalks. Shops start stocking these items in late October. Buy early — bamboo items sell out quickly as Sandhya Arghya day approaches.

Chhath Puja Outdoors in Southern California

Los Angeles and Orange County have long, flat-horizon sunsets that are ideal for the visual drama of Chhath Arghya. Parks with ponds and lakes in and around the LA metro — from Cerritos Regional Park to El Dorado Park in nearby Long Beach — have been used by Desi families for community pujas.

Bihari and Purvanchali families in Southern California have been organizing informal Chhath ghats for over a decade. What was once a private puja conducted in a home backyard has increasingly become a shared community event, with dozens of families arriving at a pre-announced park lake to perform the ritual together.

The chants of Chhath — the calls to Chhathi Maiya, the goddess who embodies the puja's protective energy — carry a distinctive sound that marks these gatherings as rooted in Bihar and eastern UP, even when performed beside a California park lake.

Stay connected with Desi.Net Cerritos for local Indian-American event listings and community updates during the Chhath season.

FAQ

When is Chhath Puja in Cerritos in 2026? Chhath Puja runs November 13–16, 2026. The public sunset gathering (Sandhya Arghya) is on November 15 and the sunrise offering (Usha Arghya) on November 16.

Is there an organized ghat in Cerritos or the nearby area? Southern California's Purvanchali community organizes shared ghats, but locations vary by year. Watch local Bihari and North Indian community groups on social media for November 2026 announcements.

Where can I buy Chhath puja supplies in Cerritos? Indian grocery stores on Artesia's Pioneer Boulevard (the Little India corridor) carry thekua ingredients, bamboo items, sugarcane, and other Chhath essentials. Stock up before the last week of October.

Is Chhath Puja only for North Indians? Chhath Puja has its roots in Bihar and eastern UP, but the ghat is open to all. Southern California ghats often attract attendees from across the Indian-American community who come to observe or assist.

Can I do Chhath at home if no community ghat is available? Yes. Many families observe Chhath at home using a large water tub or garden pool for the arghya. The puja's validity does not depend on a natural river — the sun is the essential element.

Bottom Line

Cerritos has the community density and the cultural infrastructure to support Chhath Puja observance, even if no single institution anchors the festival the way a large samiti might in New Jersey or New York. With Sri Venkateswara Annamacharya Society Of America and Organization Of Hindu Malayalees among the established community organizations, and with Artesia's Little India supplying everything needed for the puja, Cerritos remains one of Southern California's best-positioned cities for Indian-American festival life this November.