Makara Sankranti is one of the most auspicious occasions for the Hindus, and is celebrated in almost all parts of India and Nepal in myriad cultural forms, with great devotion, fervour, and gaiety. It is a harvest festival. It is perhaps the only Indian festival whose date which most often falls on the same day every year.
The festival is also believed to mark the arrival of spring in India. Makara Sankranti is the day when the Sun begins its movement away from the Tropic of Capricorn and heads towards the northern-hemisphere and thus it signifies an event wherein the Sun-God seems to remind their children that 'Tamaso Ma Jyotirgamaya'—may you go higher and higher, to more and more Light and never to Darkness. It is highly regarded by the Hindus.
The day is known by various names and a variety of traditions are witnessed as one explores the festival in different states. Owing to the vast geography and diversity of culture in India, this festival is celebrated for innumerable reasons and in innumerable ways depending on the climate, agricultural environment, cultural background and location. This also marks the season for flying kites.
South IndiaSankranti is celebrated with gusto down south. In Andhra Pradesh, Sankranthi is celebrated as a four-day festival. The day preceding Makara Sankranti is called Bhogi and this is when people discard old and derelict things and concentrate on new things causing change or transformation. At dawn people light a bonfire with logs of wood, other solid-fuels and wooden furniture that are no longer useful. In many families, infants and children (usually less than three years old) are showered with fruit called "Regi Pandlu", that is the Indian jujube fruit. It is believed that doing this would protect the children from evil eye.
The second day is Makara Sankranti, also called as "Pedda Panduga" which literally means "the big festival". They festival is marked by huge rangoli (ornate drawings done in chalk on the ground) in front of their homes and they decorate the rangoli with flowers and colours.
Kanuma Panduga is not as widely celebrated, but is an integral part of the Sankranti culture. Mukkanuma is popular among the non-vegetarians of the society. Cock fights and flying of kites are integral part of celebrations. However, a huge amount of betting is involved in cock fights every year.
In Karnataka, the festival is called as Suggi or harvest festival for farmers of Kaveri basin. On this auspicious day, young females (kids and teenagers) wear new clothes to visit near and dear ones with a Sankranti offering in a plate, and exchange the same with other families. This ritual is called "Ellu Birodhu." Here the plate would normally contain "Ellu" (white sesame seeds) mixed with fried groundnuts, neatly cut dry coconut and fine cut bella (jaggery).
The mixture is called "Ellu-Bella". The plate also contains sugar candy moulds of various shapes (Sakkare Acchu) with a piece of sugarcane. There is a saying in Kannada "ellu bella thindu olle maathadi" which translates to 'eat the mixture of sesame seeds and jaggery and speak only good.' This festival signifies the harvest of the season, since sugarcane is predominant in these parts.
Makara Sankranti is celebrated in Kerala at Sabarimala where the Makara Jyothi is visible followed by the Makara Vilakku celebrations.
In Tamil Nadu, the festival is celebrated four days from the last day of the Tamil month Maargazhi to the third day of the Tamil month Thai.
The first day of festival is Bhogi. It is celebrated by throwing away and destroying old clothes and materials, by setting them on fire, marking the end of the old and the emergence of the new.
The second day of festival is Thai Pongal or simply Pongal. It is the main day of the festival, falling on the first day of the Tamil month Thai. It is celebrated by boiling rice with fresh milk and jaggery in new pots, which are later topped with brown sugar, cashew nuts and raisins early in the morning and allowing it to boil over the vessel. This tradition gives Pongal its name.
The third day of festival is Maattu Pongal. It is for offering thanks to cattle, as they help the farmer in different ways for agriculture. On this day the cattle are decorated with paint, flowers and bells. In some places, Jallikattu, or taming the wild bull contest, is the main event of this day and this is mostly seen in villages.
The fourth day of the festival is Kaanum Pongal (the word kaanum means "to view"). During this day people visit their relatives, friends to enjoy the festive season. This day is a day to thank relatives and friends for their support in the harvest.
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The festival is celebrated as Bhogali Bihu. Magh Bihu (also called Bhogali Bihu (Bihu of enjoyment) or Maghar Domahi) is a harvest festival celebrated in Assam, India, which marks the end of harvesting season in the month of Maagha (January–February). It is the Assam celebration of Sankranthi, with feasting lasting for a week.
The festival is marked by feasts and bonfires. Young people erect makeshift huts, known as meji, from bamboo, leaves and thatch, in which they eat the food prepared for the feast, and then burn the huts the next morning. The celebrations also feature traditional Assamese games such as tekeli bhonga (pot-breaking) and buffalo fighting.
In Punjab where December and January are the coldest months of the year, huge bonfires are lit on the eve of Makar Sankranti and are celebrated as Lohri. Sweets, sugarcane and rice are thrown in the bonfires, around which friends and relatives gather together. The following day, which is Sankranti (Sangrand), is celebrated as Maghi. Bathing in any river in the early hours on Maghi is important. Hindus light lamps with sesame oil as this is supposed to give prosperity and drive away all sins.
The Punjabis dance their famous dance known as "bhangra". Then they sit down and eat the sumptuous food that is specially prepared for the occasion. It is traditional to eat "kheer", rice cooked in milk and sugar. The parshada often includes popcorn.
In West Bengal, Sankranti, also known as Poush Sankranti named after the Bengali month in which it falls (last date of that month), is celebrated as a harvest festival Poush Parbon. The freshly harvested paddy along with the date palm syrup in the form of Khejurer Gur and Patali is used in the preparation of a variety of traditional Bengali sweets made with rice flour, coconut, milk and 'khejurer gur' (date palm jaggery) and known as 'Pithey'. All sections of society participate in a three-day begins on the day before Sankranti and ends on the day after.
The Goddess Lakshmi is usually worshipped on the day of Sankranti. In the Himalayan regions of Darjeeling, the festival is known as Magey Sakrati. It is distinctly associated with the worship of Lord Shiva. Traditionally, people were required to take a bath before sunrise and then commence their pooja. The food that is consumed consists primarily of sweet potatoes and various yams.
Millions of people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar (the point where the river Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal). Ganga Sagar falls in West Bengal.
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In the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, Makara Sankranti is celebrated with great gusto. According to the Hindu religious texts, on the day of Uttarayani also called Ghughuti in Kumaon, the sun enters the Zodiacal sign of 'Makara' (Capricorn), i.e. from this day onwards the sun becomes 'Uttarayan' or it starts moving to the north. It is said that from this day, which signals a change of season, the migratory birds start returning to the hills. On Makara Sankranti people give Khichadi (a mixture of pulses and rice) in charity, take ceremonial dips in holy rivers, participate in the Uttarayani fairs and celebrate the festival of Ghughutia or Kale Kauva.
During the festival of Kale Kauva (literal translation 'black crow') people make sweetmeats out of sweetened flour (flour and gur) deep fried in ghee, shape them in shapes such as drums, pomegranates, knives, and swords. They are strung together and worn as necklace, in the middle of which an orange is fixed. Early in the morning children wear these necklaces and sing "Kale Kauva" to attract crows and other birds and offer them portions of these necklaces, as a token of welcome for all the migratory birds, who are now coming back after their winter sojourn in the plains.
In Shimla, Makara Sankranti is known as Magha Saaja. Saaja is Pahari word for Sakranti, start of the new month. Hence this day marks the start of the month of Magha.
According to the Hindu religious texts, on the day of Uttarayani the sun enters the Zodiacal sign of Makara (Capricon), i.e. from this day onwards the sun becomes 'Uttarayan' or it starts moving to the north. It is said that from this day, which signals a change of season, the migratory birds start returning to the hills.
On Magha Saaja people wake up early in the morning and take ceremonial dips and shower in the water springs or Baolis. In the daytime people visit their neighbours and together enjoy Khichdi with Ghee and Chaas and also give it in charity at temples. Festival culminates with singing and Naati (folk dance).
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