Updated 5 October 2026

Find the dates you need, choose the ones that fit your audience, and turn them into a workable posting plan. This 2026 social media calendar brings together Indian festivals, international observances and selected market-specific occasions, with a free editable template.

Planning next year? Browse our 2027 social media calendar for sourced dates, Indian festivals, international observances and an editable planning kit.

Find your dates

Planning now? Jump to October, November or December.

Jump to a month: January · February · March · April · May · June · July · August · September · October · November · December

Get the free editable template · Build your content plan · Content ideas · Sources and date notes

2026 social media calendar by month

The audience column shows where an occasion is relevant; it is not a list of public holidays. “International” describes an observance, not a day off worldwide. Country, regional and religious dates can differ. Check local notices before scheduling, and use the source linked from each occasion.

January 2026

Date notes: New Year's Day: No universal worldwide holiday classification. Lohri: Holiday status varies by administration. Pongal / Thai Pongal: Central Delhi calendar bundles Makar Sankranti/Magha Bihu/Pongal on January 14; this regional source lists Pongal January 15. World Leprosy Day (global date): India observes Leprosy Day on 30 January.

Planning idea: Choose the regional new-year and harvest occasions your audience actually observes. Add a practical “what to expect this year” post about your own business.

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February 2026

Date notes: Mahashivratri: Holiday category varies by state.

Planning idea: Build around a real customer relationship or a useful safety lesson. A Valentine’s campaign needs an offer and audience fit, not seven compulsory greeting posts.

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March 2026

Date notes: Holi (Maharashtra public-holiday date): Delhi's central-government Holi holiday is March 4; target-market dates must be checked. Holi: Maharashtra's notified Holi (Second Day) holiday is March 3. Ugadi / Gudi Padwa / Chaitra Sukladi / Cheti Chand: Local government holiday dates or traditions can vary. Eid ul-Fitr: Dates can vary by local moon sighting; Kerala's advance holiday list used March 20.

Planning idea: For Holi, show a relevant product, process or local story. For an awareness day, lead with a reliable resource or a concrete action your business can substantiate.

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April 2026

Date notes: Good Friday: Government-calendar date shown; check the church/community calendar for targeted religious content. Easter Sunday: Government-calendar date shown; check the church/community calendar for targeted religious content. Vishu: Central Delhi restricted-holiday list bundles Vishu on April 14; Kerala calendar and actual PM greeting support April 15.

Planning idea: Turn health, reading or Earth Day into a useful demonstration. Environmental claims need specific evidence rather than green-themed packaging alone.

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May 2026

Date notes: Rabindra Jayanti / Pochishe Boishakh: Tagore's Gregorian birth anniversary is May 7; these are different date conventions. Mother's Day (US May-date observance): Not a single worldwide date. Eid al-Adha / Bakrid: Actual/local moon-sighting observance can vary. May 27 survives in several advance government PDFs.

Planning idea: Consider a team story for Labour Day or a practical product explanation for a gifting occasion. Check which Mother’s Day your market uses.

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June 2026

Date notes: Father's Day (US and UK): Not a single worldwide date. Muharram / Ashura holiday: Local moon-sighting dates vary; Kerala's advance calendar lists June 25.

Planning idea: Use an expert demonstration, an honest progress update or a useful customer question. Keep health and environmental claims within what you can prove.

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July 2026

Date notes: Independence Day (United States): Observed closure date differs from calendar anniversary.

Planning idea: Useful B2B content can focus on professional expertise, skills and process. An emoji or other light-hearted cultural day is optional.

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August 2026

Date notes: Parsi New Year / Nauraj: Parsi calendar traditions differ; confirm community convention. Milad-un-Nabi / Eid-e-Milad: Local moon-sighting variation; Kerala's advance list uses August 25. Onam / Thiruvonam: Closed holiday for central offices in Kerala; not a universal India closure.

Planning idea: Separate national holidays from regional festivals. Let the people, language and customs of the audience shape the creative brief.

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September 2026

Planning idea: Share one clear lesson, a product-making detail or a customer question. Obtain permissions for any student, customer or community material.

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October 2026

Date notes: Sharad / Shardiya Navratri begins: Incredible India/Maharashtra Tourism lists October 11–20; specific ritual dates vary. Durga Puja Saptami (central restricted-holiday date): Festival tithi and local puja schedules need not exactly match administrative holiday labels. Durga Puja Maha Ashtami: Ritual timing can vary. Durga Puja Maha Navami (government-holiday date): Some ritual panchangs identify Navami observance on October 19; confirm local tradition. Dussehra / Vijayadashami: West Bengal calendar lists Durga Puja Dasami on October 21. Durga Puja Dasami (West Bengal calendar): West Bengal reference: 21 October. The central Delhi Dussehra holiday is 20 October; check the target community.

Planning idea: Confirm the remaining festival production and approval dates. For cause-led posts, prefer useful information over a last-minute brand greeting.

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November 2026

Date notes: Dhanteras: Muhurat is location-specific; date is not a universal public holiday. Naraka Chaturdashi (central restricted-holiday date): Regional ritual conventions and preceding-night observances can vary. Govardhan Puja (Delhi restricted-holiday date): Drik Panchang for Kolkata lists the religious observance on November 10. Govardhan Puja / Annakut (ritual-calendar date): Central Delhi restricted-holiday calendar lists November 9. Both bases are explicitly preserved. Cyber Monday: Date derived from organizer recurrence rule plus OPM 2026 holiday calendar.

Planning idea: For festive retail, make product details, availability and delivery limits visible. Treat Black Friday as market-specific and use only genuine offer terms.

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December 2026

Date notes: Boxing Day: The UK substitute bank holiday is Monday 28 December 2026.

Planning idea: Answer last-order and opening-hours questions with verified details. Review the year using actual work and results, then prepare the next planning cycle.

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Plan your brand’s content with DM

Need a content calendar your team can actually produce? Let’s plan the topics, formats and campaign priorities around your business and audience.

Discuss your content plan or book a 30-minute call.

Free editable social media calendar template

Download the Excel calendar or get the blank CSV. No signup is needed.

The workbook includes a blank content plan, dropdowns for approvals and publishing status, and four example posts. Open it in Excel, or import it into Google Sheets. The examples are invented demonstrations by Debate Marketers, not client campaigns or reported results.

Use one row per post. Record the publish date, local time, time zone, audience, channel, goal, topic, format, asset, caption, owner, approval status and the measure you will review. Keep draft approval separate from whether a post is scheduled or published.

An occasion calendar tells you when an event happens. Your working content calendar also needs the ordinary posts that help customers choose, use and trust your business.

Turn the dates into a monthly content plan

1. Choose the audience and the job

Write a one-line brief: “This month, help [audience] do [specific thing].” A restaurant might want weekday reservations. A B2B service business might need buyers to understand its process. Those goals lead to different posts, even during the same festival.

Use dates that belong in your audience’s life. A local business in Kerala may give Onam more attention than Black Friday. A software company selling in the US may plan around Thanksgiving while its India team observes Diwali.

2. Add useful everyday content

Start with customer questions, product demonstrations, objections, behind-the-scenes work and real evidence you have permission to share. Then add relevant occasions. You do not need a greeting post for every entry in this calendar.

For each idea, write the main point before choosing the format. A process can become a carousel. A visible product detail can become a short video. A time-sensitive service update may only need a clear text post or Story.

3. Work backwards from the publish date

Set a draft date, an approval date and a production deadline that your team can actually meet. For a larger festival campaign, use the timeline below as a starting point and adjust it for shoots, stock, collaborators and delivery lead times.

• Three to four weeks before: agree on the audience, offer, budget, landing page and fulfilment limits

• Two weeks before: finish the creative brief, capture the assets and write the first drafts

• One week before: check dates, language, prices, stock, permissions and mobile links; approve and schedule the ready posts

• During the campaign: answer questions, check live links and pause anything that has become inaccurate

• Afterwards: record the result against the original goal and note what to repeat or change

4. Give every post one owner and one next step

A draft should have a named person who can approve it. The reader should also know what to do next: save a checklist, view a product, check availability, read a guide or ask a relevant question.

Use urgency only when the deadline is real. Check every claim, price and exclusion. Get permission before using customer photographs, messages or testimonials. For religious, remembrance and health observances, an informed acknowledgement or useful resource may be more appropriate than a sales offer.

5. Review the result that matches the goal

Pick the measure before publishing. For a practical guide, that might be saves or visits to the full resource. For an enquiry campaign, count relevant enquiries and track where they came from. For a sale, use your recorded orders and attribution settings. A popular post does not by itself prove a business result.

Content ideas you can adapt

These are original planning examples. Replace the details with your own work, facts and audience language.

Retail, gifting and D2C

For Diwali, show what arrives in the parcel: dimensions, materials, packaging and care instructions. Follow with a plain-language delivery update using the deadlines your fulfilment team has confirmed.

Hook: “What’s inside the box, before it reaches their door.”

CTA: “See the product details and current delivery estimate.”

Restaurants and cafés

Build a short menu story around a relevant regional festival. Introduce the person making a dish, show its preparation, and make location, timings and booking details easy to find. Do not attach cultural claims to a recipe without checking them.

Hook: “Meet the person behind this week’s special.”

CTA: “View the menu and check table availability.”

B2B services and agencies

Use a busy campaign period to answer a buying question. Show the inputs required for a good brief, a clear project sequence or a common decision buyers struggle with. Share a real case study only when the facts and permissions are in place.

Hook: “Three things to decide before you ask for campaign ideas.”

CTA: “Use the checklist for your next brief.”

Education and professional training

For Teachers’ Day or a relevant skills observance, share one genuinely useful lesson. A worked example or an instructor’s explanation can serve the audience better than a generic quote graphic. Obtain appropriate consent for any student material.

Hook: “One small change that makes this task easier to understand.”

CTA: “Try the example, then check your answer.”

Health and wellbeing

Use recognised health observances to direct people to reliable information. Have health claims checked by an appropriately qualified reviewer. Avoid diagnostic quizzes, alarmist copy and promises that a product can prevent or cure illness.

Hook: “A reliable place to start learning about [topic].”

CTA: “Read the official resource linked in this post.”

Travel, local businesses and culture

Make the local detail useful: access, opening times, weather preparation, respectful visitor behaviour or a small-business story. Check current local conditions before a post is scheduled. Name the place rather than presenting a regional custom as universal.

Hook: “What to know before you visit [place] this season.”

CTA: “Save the practical details for your trip.”

Planning the rest of 2026 and getting ready for 2027

For October–December 2026, begin with the commitments you already have: launches, sales, events, production capacity and delivery cut-offs. Choose the remaining calendar dates that support those plans. Leave space for customer questions and changes that cannot be scheduled in advance.

Reuse the blank template for 2027. Carry forward useful topics and recurring workflows, then verify the new year’s festivals, public holidays and campaign themes against the relevant official sources. Do not move a 2026 festival to the same date in 2027 by default.

Frequently asked questions

What is a social media calendar?

A social media calendar is a dated plan of the posts you intend to publish. It usually records the channel, topic, format, copy, asset, owner and approval status. It can be a spreadsheet, a shared planning board or part of a scheduling tool.

How is this different from a festival calendar?

The month tables help you find occasions. The editable template helps you turn selected occasions and everyday customer questions into posts with owners, deadlines and goals. Most brands need both kinds of content.

How many times should a business post?

Choose a pace your team can sustain with useful content and timely replies. Review your own audience response and business results before increasing volume. There is no single frequency that fits every channel and business.

Are these dates public holidays everywhere?

No. This page includes public holidays, religious festivals, official awareness days and selected cultural or commercial occasions. The scope labels matter. Check local government and organiser notices for your market, especially for lunar festivals and office closures.

Can I use this calendar outside India?

Yes. International observances and clearly labelled country-specific occasions are included. Add your market’s holidays, language, time zone and trading patterns to the template. India’s dates should not be used as a substitute for another country’s calendar.

Should I post about every awareness day?

No. Choose days where you can contribute something accurate and relevant. A health or social cause should not become a convenient excuse for an unrelated product promotion.

Need help turning the plan into content?

Debate Marketers can help you develop a content plan around your audience, offer and production capacity. Tell us what you are planning.

Sources and date notes

Dates were checked against government calendars and notices, UN and related agency observances, and the organisations responsible for individual campaigns. Each calendar row links to its source. Download the date list with source URLs and local notes.

For India, a government office holiday list is evidence of that office’s holiday, not proof that every community celebrates on the same date. Later official announcements may supersede a printed annual calendar. Islamic dates can change with moon sighting, and Hindu festival timing can vary by location and tradition. The notes flag material differences found during this review.

The calendar is a selected planning resource, not an exhaustive global holiday schedule. Confirm local dates, observance names, current campaign themes and business closures before publishing.