ISKCON Houston Diwali and Annakut 2026

ISKCON of Houston has both holiday nights on its calendar. Diwali is Sunday, November 8, 2026, from 6 to 9 p.m. Govardhan Puja and Annakut, the mountains-of-food morning after, is Monday, November 9, from 5:30 to 9 p.m.

The temple is at 1320 West 34th Street, in the Garden Oaks / northwest stretch, not on Hillcroft and not in Stafford. If your Diwali map is only Bellaire and Sugar Land, this is a different drive. The community started in a Montrose house in 1972, moved to 34th Street in 1984 when the site was still an old church, and opened the current temple building in 2014.

Sunday is the candlelight aarti. The temple page talks about hundreds of lamps in the room, kirtan, a short discourse, and prasadam. Monday is Annakut darshan, abhishek, Sunday-school kids' puja, and a feast. They ask people bringing food offerings to arrive before 6 p.m., with no garlic, onion, mushroom, or chocolate, in clean containers. You do not have to cook to attend.

Dress like you are going into a temple: shoulders and knees covered, shoes off at the door, phones quiet once you are inside. Parking is on the temple campus. 34th Street backs up when a feast night is on.

Sunday Love Feast is the weekly version of this hospitality: mantra at 5 p.m., aarti at 5:30, a lecture at 6, vegetarian dinner at 7. The holiday nights are larger rooms on top of that rhythm.

Levy Park on November 14 is the free outdoor mela with stage acts and, in recent years, fireworks. ISKCON is the actual holiday, a week earlier, in the temple.

BAPS in Stafford will have its own Diwali and Annakut. They have not posted 2026 Houston hours yet, so do not treat this page as a stand-in for Brand Lane.

Our take: go Sunday if you want the lamps. Go Monday if you want the food mountain. The Asia Society afternoon and POST rooftop are already done by then. This is the temple weekend.

When: November 8, 2026, 6–9 p.m. (Diwali). November 9, 2026, 5:30–9 p.m. (Annakut).
Where: ISKCON of Houston, 1320 W 34th St, Houston, TX 77018