MAKAR SANKRANTI : UNIVERSAL FOOD FESTIVAL OF INDIA
India is a land of culture, traditions and festivals and we, Indians respect them a lot. There are many festivals in our culture and we celebrate each one of them very enthusiastically. It’s the month of January and everyone is waiting for the famous, auspicious and loving festival of Makar Sankranti. It is one of the most propitious days for the Hindus and is distinguished in almost all parts of India in countless cultural forms, with immense devotion, gaiety and fervour.
Meaning:
The word Makar Sankranti derives from two words Makar and Sankranti. Makar means Capricorn and Sankranti means transition, which makes Makar Sankranti means the transition of the sun in the Capricorn (Zodiac sign).
Date:
Makara Sankranti is one of the few ancient Indian festivals that has been observed according to solar cycle, while most festivals are set by the lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar. Being a festival that celebrates the solar cycle, it almost always falls on the same Gregorian date every year i.e. January 14, except in some years when the date shifts by a day. As per the solar calendar, after one year, the Sun comes to the same location 20 minutes late every year, which means the Sun needs 1 day extra after every 72 years in the sky. That's the reason why Makar Sankranti sometimes shifts from 14 January to 15 January, and so on. Makar Sankranti falls in the Hindu calendar solar month of Makara, and the lunar month of Magha (the festival is also called Magha Sankranti or Magha festival in parts of India). It marks the end of a month that is called Pausha in the lunar calendar and Dhanu in the solar calendar in the Vikrami system.
Importance:
- Geographical Importance
Makar Sankranti marks the transition of the Sun into the zodiac sign of Makara Rashi (Capricorn) on its celestial path. After the Makar Sankranti, the Sun starts its journey in the northern hemisphere or Uttarayan journey. Therefore, this festival is also known as Uttarayan. It marks the first day of the sun's transit into Makara (Capricorn), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days. People fly kites on the morning of Makar Sankranti which aims to get mild sunlight in the morning which is not too harsh and it is beneficial for our health. Makar Sankranti festival falls in winter, hence eating sesame and jaggery is considered beneficial to health as they are warm foods.
- Agricultural Importance
For most parts of India, this period is a part of early stages of the Rabi crop and agricultural cycle, where crops have been sown and the hard work in the fields is mostly over. The time thus signifies a period of socializing and families enjoying each other's company, taking care of the cattle, and celebrating around bonfires.
- Cultural / Spiritual Importance
Makar Sankranti festival is dedicated to the Sun (Surya) which has great importance in Hindu culture. The festival marks the start of an auspicious period of next six months called “Uttarayan”. Makar Sankranti is believed to be a good time for various spiritual practices and events like Pujas and Havans.
On this day people take a dip in sacred lakes or rivers like Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna and Cauvery (Kaveri) which is believed to help them to cleanse their sins. In addition, it signifies the increase of spiritual light and reduction of materialized darkness. People pray to the sun and thank it for the success and prosperity. People make sweets (Tilgul) made with sesame seeds (Til), jaggery (gud) and share them with everyone. Tilgul symbolizes the togetherness and bond between the people in peace despite differences and diversity.
Celebration:
It’s a festival of togetherness and delicacies. The main cuisine of this festival is a dish made of Til and jaggery that add sparks to the festival. Kite flying is also a great part of the festival during the day the whole family enjoys kite flying and at that time the sky is filled with a lot of colorful and different design kites. Charity is also an important part of the festival. Donating wheat, rice, and sweets to the needy and poor is part of the festival.
Regional Variations:
Makara Sankranti is an important pan-Indian solar festival, known by different names and with regional variations though observed on the same date, sometimes for multiple dates around the Makar Sankranti.
1. Punjab:
In Punjab, Makar Sankranti is celebrated as Maghi or Lohri which is a religious and cultural festival. Bathing in a 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. A major mela is held at Sri Muktsar Sahib on Maghi which commemorates a historical event in Sikh history. Maghi fairs are held in many places.
Culturally, people dance their famous Bhangra and Giddha. They then sit down and eat the sumptuous food that is specially prepared for the occasion. It is traditional to eat Ganne ke Ras ki Kheer (rice cooked in milk and sugarcane juice). It is also traditional to consume khichdi and jaggery.
2. Delhi and Haryana:
Kayastha community of Delhi and Other neighbouring rural communities like Yadavs, Jats belonging to Haryana and Punjab consider Sakraat or Makar Sankranti to be a main festival of the year and also celebrated as Maghi. This includes ritual purification by taking the holy dip in rivers, especially in Yamuna, or at sacred ponds such as ancient sarovars Kurukshetra and at local tirtha ponds associated with the ancestral guardian/ founder deity of the village called Jathera or Dhok (dahak in Sanskrit or fire) to wash away sins. One brother of every married woman visits her home with a gift of some warm clothing for her and her husband's family. It is called Sindhara. Women used to give a gift to their in-laws, and this rituals called Manana. Women go to haweli (main palace where men sit together and share hookka) to sing folk songs and give gifts.
Churma of ghee, Halwa and Kheer are cooked specially in Jats and Yadavs homes on this day and distribute til-gud (sesame and jaggery) laddoos or Chikkis.
3. Himachal Pradesh:
In Shimla District of Himachal Pradesh, Makar Sankranti is known as Magha Saaji (Pahari word for Sakranti).
On Magha Saaji people wake up early in the morning and take ceremonial dips and shower in the springs or baolis. In the daytime people visit their neighbours and together enjoy Khichdi with ghee and chaas and give it in charity at temples. Festival culminates with singing and Naati (folk dance).
4. Rajasthan and Western Madhya Pradesh:
Makar Sankrati or Sakraat in the Rajasthani language is one of the major festivals in the state of Rajasthan.
Specially, the women of this region observe a ritual in which they give any type of object (related to household, make-up or food) to 13 married women. People invite friends and relatives to their home for special festival meals Sankrant Bhoj. The day is celebrated with special Rajasthani delicacies and sweets such as Pheeni (frying a well rolled out flour dough in ghee, garnished with roasted dry fruits & served either with sweet milk or sugar syrup), Til-paati, Gajak (roasted sesame seeds, cashew nuts or groundnuts folded in mixture of ghee, sugar and water and laid down on a ghee coated tray. On cooling down, broken into small pieces and served), Kheer, Ghevar (disc shaped sweet dish made from flour and milk batter, poured in heated ghee and cooked, dipped in sugar syrup, garnished with dry fruits), Pakodi, Puwa, and Til-laddoo. People give out many kind of small gifts such as til-gud (jaggery), fruits, dry khichadi, etc. to Brahmins or the needy ones.
Kite flying is traditionally observed as a part of this festival. On this occasion the sky in Jaipur and Hadoti regions is filled with kites, and youngsters engage in contests trying to cut each other's strings.
5. Uttarakhand:
In the Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, Makar Sankranti is celebrated as Uttarayani or Ghughutiya. The religious ritual consists in bathing before daybreak at the confluence of Saryu and Gomati. After Bathing, an offering of water to Lord Shiva inside the Bagnath Temple is essential. Those who are more religiously disposed, continue this practice for three days in succession, which is known as Trimaghi.
On Makar Sankranti people give Khichadi (a mixture of pulses, rice and seasonal vegetables) 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 Ghughute (wheat flour and jaggery is mixed and beaten into different shapes like drums, pomegranates, knives, and swords & fried in ghee and strung together to form a garland). These are fed to crows and other birds as a token of welcome for all the migratory birds, who are now coming back after their winter sojourn in the plains.
6. Uttar Pradesh:
The festival is known as Kicheri in Uttar Pradesh and involves ritual bathing. The famous Kumbha Mela, held every 12 years at one of four holy locations, i.e. Haridwar, Prayag (Allahabad), Ujjain and Nashik or the Magha Mela (or mini-Kumbh Mela held annually at Prayag) starts on this day. 
If people cannot go in river then they bathe at home. There is a compulsion to bathe in the morning while fasting; first they bathe then they eat sweets such as til ladoo and gud laddo (known as Tillava in Bhojpuri). At some places new clothes are worn on this day.
Kite flying is an inevitable part of the festival in Uttar Pradesh, as with many states of India such as Gujarat and Maharashtra.
7. Bihar and Jharkhand:
In Bihar and Jharkhand, the festival is celebrated on 14 & 15 January.
On 14 January, it is celebrated as Makar Sankranti or Sakraat or Khichdi. As in other parts of country, people take baths in rivers and ponds and feast upon seasonal delicacies as a celebration of good harvest.
On 15 January, it is celebrated as Makraat (in some parts of the state) where people start their day by worshiping and putting til (sesame seeds) into fire followed by eating Dahi-chuda, (beaten rice served with a larger serving of curd, along with cooked kohada or red pumpkin, prepared specially with sugar and salt but no water). The meal is generally accompanied by Tilkut, Lai (laddu made of til, chuda and rice) and sweets made of til such as Tilgul, Tilwa (sesame seeds are roasted, mixed with jaggery and rolled into laddoos), Maska. Then people spend the day on socializing and participating in kite flying festivals.
At night, a special Khichdi is made and served with its four traditional companions - chokha, papad, ghee and achaar. Since such a rich khichdi is generally made on this festival, the festival is often colloquially referred to as Khichdi.
8. West Bengal:
In West Bengal, Sankranti, also known as Poush Sankranti is celebrated as a harvest festival Poush Parbon. All sections of society participate in a three-day festival that begins on the day before Sankranti and ends on the day after. In the day of Makar Sankranti Hindu God Dharma is worshiped and khichuri is offered to the God as Bhog. On the day after Makar Sankranti, the first day in the month Magh, the Goddess Laxmi devi is worshiped. It is called Baharlaxmi Puja as the idol is worshiped in an open place.
The freshly harvested paddy and the date palm syrup in the form of Khejurer Gur and Patali, is used in the preparation of a variety of traditional Bengali sweets (a mixture of grated coconut and jaggery stuffed into small balls of rice flour dough, flattened to form a patty and deep fried in oil or ghee) known as Pitha and immersed in Payesh (mixture of milk, rice and jaggery) and boiled, the combination known as Payesh Puli.
In the Himalayan regions of Darjeeling, the festival is as known as Magey Sakrati. It is distinctly associated with the worship of Lord Shiva. Traditionally, people bathe at sunrise and then commence their pooja.
Elsewhere, many people take a dip in places like Ganga Sagar (the point where the river Ganges meets the Bay of Bengal). Ganga Sagar mela starts on this day. Tusu Mela also called as Tusu Porab is celebrated in many parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal. Poush Mela is an annual fair and festival that takes place in Santiniketan, in Birbhum District of West Bengal.
9. Assam:
Makar Sankranti in Assam is celebrated as Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu or Maghar Domahi which is a harvest festival celebrated in Assam, which marks the end of harvesting season in the month of Maagha.
The festival is marked by feasts and bonfires. Young people erect makeshift huts, known as Meji and Bhelaghar, from bamboo, leaves and thatch, and in Bhelaghar 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. Magh Bihu celebrations start on the last day of the previous month, usually the 14th of January, and is the only day of Magh Bihu in modern times. The night before is Uruka, when people gather around a bonfire, cook dinner, and make merry. Earlier, the festival would last for the whole month of Magh, and so the name Magh Bihu.
During Magh Bihu people of Assam make cakes of rice with various names such as Shunga Pitha, Til Pitha etc. and some other sweets of coconut called Laru or Laskara.
10. Odisha:
The festival is known as Makara Sankranti in Odisha where individuals at the start of the day perform a ritual bath while fasting. Makara Mela (Fun fair) is observed at Dhabaleswar in Cuttack, Hatakeshwar at Atri in Khordha, Makara Muni temple in Balasore and near deities in each district of Odisha. In Puri special rituals are carried out at the temple of Lord Jagannath.
People prepare Makara Chaula (uncooked newly harvested rice, ripe banana, sugarcane pieces, grated coconut, grated ginger, jaggery, pepper powder, sesame, rasagola, Khai /Liaa and chhena) puddings for naivedya to gods and goddesses. The withdrawing winter entails a change in food habits and intake of nourishing and rich food. Therefore, this festival holds traditional cultural significance.
In Mayurbhanj, Keonjhar, Kalahandi, Koraput and Sundargarh where the tribal population is greater, the festival is celebrated with great joy. They celebrate this festival with great enthusiasm, singing, dancing and generally having an enjoyable time. Tribal groups celebrate with traditional dancing, eating their particular dishes sitting together, and by lighting bonfires.
Besides the usual rituals, people of Orissa, especially Western and Southern Orissa, reaffirm the strength of the bond of friendship with their best friends during this occasion. The practice is called Makara Basma or Makara Basiba.
11. Gujarat:
Uttarayan, as Makar Sankranti is called in Gujarati, is a major festival in the state of Gujarat which lasts for two days.
14 January is Uttarayan
15 January is Vasi-Uttarayan (Stale Uttarayan)
Gujarati people keenly await this festival to fly kites, called patang. In the major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, and Jamnagar the skies appear filled with thousands upon thousands of kites as people enjoy two full days of Uttarayan on their terraces.
Undhiyu (spicy, baked mix of winter vegetables) and Chikkis (made from sesame seeds, peanuts and jaggery) are the special festival recipes savoured on this day.
12. Andhra Pradesh & Telangana:
The festival, Makara Sankranti, is celebrated for four days in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana:
- Bhogi Panduga (Day 1)
The day preceding Makara Sankranti is called Bhoghi. 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.
- Pedda Panduga (Day 2)
The second day is Makara Sankranti. People wear new clothes, pray to God, and make offerings of traditional food to ancestors who have died. They also make beautiful and ornate Rangoli or muggu in front of their homes. These drawings are decorated with flowers, colours and small, hand-pressed piles of cow dung, called "gobbemma".
For this festival all families prepare Chekkalu, Chakralu, Arisalu, Booralu, Gavvalu, Poornalu, Boondi Mitai, Boondi Laddu, Garelu, Chakinalu, Nuvvula Appalu, Katte Appalu or karam appalu, Madugulu (Jantikalu), Bellam Appalu, kudumulu, Ariselu, Appalu (a crispy sweet made of jaggery, wheat floor,and rice flour & the flattened dough fried in oil), dappalam (a dish made with pumpkin and other vegetables) and make an offering to God.
- Kanuma Panduga (day 3)
On the third day, Kanuma is celebrated. Kanuma is very intimate to the hearts of farmers because it is the day for praying and showcasing their cattle with honor. Cattle are the symbolic indication of prosperity. Girls feed the animals, birds and fish as a symbol of sharing.
- Mukkanuma Panduga (Day 4)
The fourth day is called Mukkanuma which is popular among the non-vegetarians of the society. On this day, farmers offer prayers to the elements (like soil, rain, fire for helping the harvest) and the (village) goddesses with their gifts which sometimes (and these days mainly) include animals. People in Andhra and Telangana do not eat any meat (or fish) during the first three days of the festival and do so only on the day of Mukkanuma. Kanuma, Mukkanuma and the day following Mukkanuma call for celebrations with union of families, friends, relatives. People play with kites and the sky is filled with beautiful kites.
Another notable feature of the festival in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana is the Haridasu and Gangiredduvallu who go early in the morning with a colourfully decorated cow. Haridasus sing songs of Lord Vishnu (Hari); hence the name Haridasu (servant of Hari). It is a custom that he should not talk to anyone and only sing songs of Lord Vishnu when he goes to everyone's house.
13. Maharashtra:
In Maharashtra on Makar Sankranti day married women invite friends/family members and celebrate Haldi-Kunku. It is celebrated for 12 days where the women apply Haladi (turmeric) and Kumkum (vermilion) to the foreheads of other women and put flowers in their hair, and offer them household gifts. Newly married women offer five sunghat or small clay pots filled with newly harvested grains with black beaded threads tied around them, to the deity along with betel leaves and areca nut.
People exchange multicoloured Halwa (sugar granules coated in sugar syrup) and Til-gul laadoo (sweetmeats made from sesame seeds and jaggery). Gulachi poli / Puran poli (flat bread stuffed with shredded jaggery mixed with toasted, ground white sesame seeds and some gram flour, which has been toasted to golden in pure ghee) are offered for lunch. While exchanging til-gul as tokens of goodwill people greet each other with the words “til-gul ghyaa, aani goad-goad bolaa" meaning ‘Accept this til-gul (sweet) and utter sweet words’. The underlying thought in the exchange of til-gul is to forget the past ill-feelings and hostilities and resolve to speak sweetly and remain friends. The importance of sesame seeds is it keeps body warm and provide good oil, which is needed as winter dried up the moisture from body.
14. Goa:
Celebrations in Goa closely resemble to that in Maharashtra.
15. Karnataka:
This is the harvest festival for farmers of Karnataka. On this auspicious day, girls 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 shaped sugar candy moulds (Sakkare Acchu) with a piece of sugarcane. There is a saying in Kannada "ellu bella thindu olle maathadi" that 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. Ellu Bella, Ellu Unde, bananas, sugarcane, red berries, haldi and kumkum and small gift items useful in everyday lives are often exchanged among women in Karnataka.
In some parts of Karnataka, a newly married woman is required to give away bananas for five years to married women (muthaidhe/sumangali) from the first year of her marriage and increase the number of bananas in multiples of five. There is also a tradition of some households giving away red berries "Yalchi Kai" with the above. In north Karnataka, kite flying with community members is a tradition. Drawing rangoli in groups is another popular event among women during Sankranti.
An important ritual in rural Karnataka is Kichchu Haayisuvudu, where cows and bulls are displayed in colourful costumes in an open field. Cows are decorated for the occasion and taken on a procession. They are also made to cross a fire.
16. Tamil Nadu:
The festival is celebrated for four days from the last day of the Tamil month Margazhi to the third day of the Tamil month Thai.
- Bhogi Pandigai (Day 1)
The first day of festival is Bhogi. It is celebrated on the last day of Margazhi 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. In villages there will be a simple ceremony of "Kappu Kattu" where neem leaves are kept along the walls and roof of the houses in order to eliminate evil forces.
- Thai Pongal (Day 2)
The second and main day of festival is Thai Pongal or simply Pongal. 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 moment the rice boils over and bubbles out of the vessel, the tradition is to shout "Ponggalo Ponggal" and blow the sangu (a conch), a custom practised to announce it was going to be a year blessed with good tidings. Then, new boiled rice is offered to the Sun god during sunrise, as a prayer which symbolises thanks to the sun for providing prosperity. It is later served to the people in the house for the ceremony. People prepare savouries and sweets such as Vadai, Murukku (deep frying spirals made by dough made up of urad dal, flour, ajwain, sesame seeds), Payasam and visit each other and exchange greetings.
- Maattu Pongal (Day 3)
The third day of festival is Maattu Pongal. It is for offering thanks to cattle, as they help farmers in agriculture. On this day the cattle are decorated with paint, flowers and bells. They are allowed to roam free and fed sweet rice and sugar cane. In some places, Jallikattu, or taming the wild bull contest, is the main event of this day and this is mostly seen in the villages.
- Kaanum Pongal (Day 4)
The fourth day of the festival is Kaanum Pongal. During this day people visit their relatives, friends to enjoy the festive season. It is a day to thank relatives and friends for their support in the harvest. It started as a farmers festival, called as Uzhavar Thirunaal in Tamil. Kolam decorations are made in front of the house during Thai Pongal festival.
17. Kerala:
Makar Sankranti is celebrated in Kerala as thousands throng to see the Makara Vilakku (flame on Ponnambalamedu hill) at Sabarimala temple where the Makara Jyothi, the celestial star appears in the sky.
The belief is that Lord Ayyappa Swami shows his presence in the form of this celestial lighting and blesses his devotees.
Outside India:
1. Bangladesh:
Shakrain or Poush Sangkranti is an annual celebration of winter in Bangladesh, observed with the flying of kites.
2. Nepal:
Maghe Sankranti is a Nepalese festival observed on the first of Magh, bringing an end to the ill-omened month of Poush when all religious ceremonies are forbidden.
Maghe Sankranti is observed by Nepalis Hindu by bathing at the confluence of rivers and praying to the sun. The popular bathing sites include Sankhamul on the Bagmati river near Patan; in the Gandaki/Narayani river basin at Triveni near the Indian border; Devghat near Chitwan Valley and Ridi on the Kaligandaki; and in the Koshi River basin at Dolalghat on the Sun Koshi. Festive foods like laddoo, ghee and sweet potatoes are distributed to relatives and friends. The mother of each household wishes good health to all family members.
3. Pakistan (Sindh):
The Hindu Sindhi community in western regions of India, also those in south-eastern parts of Pakistan, celebrate Makar Sankranti as Tirmoori. On this day, parents sending ladoos and chiki (Laaee) made of sesame seeds to their daughters.
4. Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia:
On this day,Tamil farmers honor the Sun God Suriyapakaran. Like those of Tamil community in India, the Thai Pongal or Uzhavar Thirunal festival is celebrated in mid-January, or the Tamil month of Thai, to coincide with the rice harvest.
To sum it up, Makar Sankranti is a festival of great importance. Besides, it is important not only from a religious point of view, but also from a scientific view too. Makar sankranti signifies that we should turn away from the darkness of delusion in which we live and begin to joyously let the light within us shine bright. We should grow in purity, wisdom and knowledge just as the sun does from this day. In addition it is a festival of happiness and joy and socializing with people. The true aim of the festival is to be resectful to others and live your life in peace and harmony with others.
Above all, be sweet to people just like the til and jaggery that unites to form a mouth watering delicacy.
