MAKAR SANKRANTI : The Sun Journeys

North

In small-town India however~the first major festival in the month of January is Makar Sankranti, Lohri or PongaL According to the lunar calendar, the sun transits from the Tropic of Cancer into the Tropic of Capricorn from Dakshinayana into Uttarayana in the month Poush in mid-January. The sun thus begins to face the northern hemisphere of the earth.

Since this is a geophysical event, it is the only Hindu festival which falls regularly on the 14th of January every year. In the north, this festival is called Lohri and is celebrated by distributing sugarcane juice, new jaggery and sweets made from peanuts and sesame (til). These sweets are intrinsic to this festival because the ingredients are believed to be heat-producing and keep the body warm in the winter cold. Traditional shapes and flavours of sesame sweets are made. To share the joy of Lohri, these sweets are sent to neighbours, family and friends "In Gujarat and the other western states, Uttarayana or the change in the direction of winds at this time of the year, is marked by thousands of colourful kites which dot the clear blue sky. Young men vie with each other to win community kite-flying competitions and then come home to a special winter feast in the evening. In these states, January is a month for eating newly-sprouted vegetables, sweets made of milk and fruits of the season.

ln Maharashtra,Karnataka as well as parts of Andhra, Makar Sankranti is a day of goodwill and friendship. Sesame chikki ladoos and sugardrops are distributed by everyone as a symbol of the need to be generous and kind to everyone Women wear new clothes, new glass bangles and hold get-togethers to share sweets and gifts. A new bride is given ornaments made of sugardrops and her new relatives are invited to meet and welcome her at Haldi Kumkum celebration. In rural Maharashtra, Sankranti brings in feasts when tender Jowar is eaten with salt and lemon juice, as well as fresh vegetables, guavas, custard apples, grapes, oranges and other fruits of the season.

In the south, Sankranti becomes Pongal, a harvest festival. Cows and bulls are decorated and taken in procession around villages. The first rice of the new harvest is ritually offered to the sun god and cooked in different ways to symbolise plenty. The food cooked for such feasts is also offered to the cows on that day. The special sweets made on this occasion are Sakkami Pongal or rice cooked in jaggery and Ven Pongal or rice cooked with green gram, nuts and ghee. The season of Sankranti ends with Ratha Saptami, the seventh day of the bright half of Magh, when the sun and his golden chariot are honoured.