Festival
Ghee Sankranti 2028: Date, Rituals & Significance
Wednesday
Wednesday, 16 August 2028
Ghee Sankranti 2028 is on Wednesday, 16 August 2028. Ghee Sankranti — Olgia — is the hill form of Simha Sankranti kept in Kumaon, Garhwal and across Nepal. With the monsoon grass at its richest and the cattle in full milk, the day is marked by eating ghee: tradition holds that one who does not take ghee on this day is reborn as a snail.
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Ghee Sankranti 2028 puja muhurat & timings
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Krishna Ekadashi runs 16 Aug, 05:12 → 17 Aug, 03:49.
What is Ghee Sankranti?
Chapatis with ghee, urad-dal pakoras, kheer and seasonal greens make the day's meal. Under the old Olgia custom, artisans, farmhands and sons-in-law bring gifts — sickles, tools, garden produce, a chicken — to their patrons and elders, who give cloth or cash in return; the word survives in Kumaoni as the name for such a present.
The story of Ghee Sankranti
Olgia / Ghee Sankranti is recorded in the district gazetteers of Kumaon and Garhwal as a harvest-and-tribute custom of the agrarian hill economy; it shares its date with Simha Sankranti and the Nepali observance of Sinha Sankranti.
Source: Kumaon and Garhwal district gazetteers — the Olgia custom
History
The Olgia tribute custom is described in the Almora and Garhwal gazetteers of the early twentieth century as a fixture of the patron–client bond in the hills; the ghee-eating rule is a folk seasonal prescription tied to the peak of monsoon dairying.
- Kumaon and Garhwal district gazetteers — the Olgia custom
- Wikipedia — Ghee Sankranti
How Ghee Sankranti is observed
- Kept in Uttarakhand on the first of Bhado (Simha Sankranti), as the rains ripen the crops.
- Everyone eats ghee, and a folk saying warns that whoever skips it will be reborn as a snail.
- Olag gifts of vegetables, fruit, curd and ghee are taken to relatives and, traditionally, by tenants to landowners.
Regional variations
- Kumaon and Garhwal (Uttarakhand). Olgia — ghee-rich food and the bringing of tools and produce to patrons and elders, who give cloth or cash in return.
- Nepal. Sinha Sankranti / Ghyu-Chaku — ghee eaten with chaku (hardened cane molasses) for strength before the colder months.
Festive foods
- Bedu roti with ghee — Stuffed urad-dal flatbread eaten with fresh ghee.
- Gaaba — Colocasia-leaf curry of the season.
Why this date
Ghee Sankranti (Olgia) falls on Wednesday, 16 August 2028. Uttarakhand harvest festival; Simha Sankranti; ghee and green vegetables are eaten.
at sunrise
The astronomical basis
Ghee Sankranti falls at the same instant as Simha Sankranti — the Sun entering sidereal Leo (Lahiri), near 17 August — at the height of the monsoon, when hill pasture and milk yield are at their peak.
Fixed to a solar ingress — the Gregorian date barely moves (a day either way as the ingress instant drifts against the civil day).
Ghee Sankranti dates 2022–2037
| Year | Date | Day | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Wednesday, 17 August 2022 | Wed | — |
| 2023 | Thursday, 17 August 2023 | Thu | — |
| 2024 | Friday, 16 August 2024 | Fri | — |
| 2025 | Sunday, 17 August 2025 | Sun | — |
| 2026 | Monday, 17 August 2026 | Mon | — |
| 2027 | Tuesday, 17 August 2027 | Tue | — |
| 2028 | Wednesday, 16 August 2028 | Wed | — |
| 2029 | Friday, 17 August 2029 | Fri | — |
| 2030 | Saturday, 17 August 2030 | Sat | — |
| 2031 | Sunday, 17 August 2031 | Sun | — |
| 2032 | Monday, 16 August 2032 | Mon | — |
| 2033 | Wednesday, 17 August 2033 | Wed | — |
| 2034 | Thursday, 17 August 2034 | Thu | — |
| 2035 | Friday, 17 August 2035 | Fri | — |
| 2036 | Saturday, 16 August 2036 | Sat | — |
| 2037 | Monday, 17 August 2037 | Mon | — |
Dates for New Delhi; they can differ by a day elsewhere.
Frequently asked questions
When is Ghee Sankranti 2028?
Ghee Sankranti 2028 is on Wednesday, 16 August 2028. Ghee Sankranti (Olgia) falls on Wednesday, 16 August 2028. Uttarakhand harvest festival; Simha Sankranti; ghee and green vegetables are eaten.
Why is ghee eaten on this day?
At the peak of the monsoon the hill pastures are richest and the cattle give the most milk, so ghee is abundant. Eating it on Simha Sankranti is both a seasonal celebration and a folk prescription for strength; tradition warns that one who skips it is reborn as a snail.
What is a Sankranti?
The moment the Sun crosses from one sidereal rashi into the next — there are twelve in a year. Each is a parva for snana (bathing), dana (giving) and pitru-tarpana, and the punya kala is the few hours around the exact ingress.
Related
In other traditions
Associated graha
Written and checked by AstroTathya Editorial Team · Last checked 2026-09-08.
Date & panchang computed by the AstroTathya calculation engine, Lahiri (Chitrapaksha) ayanamsa; muhurat and timings are worked out for each city. How we calculate this → · Editorial policy
Sources & further reading
- Kumaon and Garhwal district gazetteers — the Olgia custom
- Wikipedia — Ghee Sankranti