Makar Sankranti

Makar Sankranti is one of the few Hindu festivals observed according to the solar calendar rather than the lunar, marking the transition of the Sun into the Capricorn (Makara) zodiac and the start of the Uttarayana — the six-month northward journey of the sun, considered the most auspicious half of the solar year. The festival falls between January 14 and 15 in the Gregorian calendar and is celebrated across the Indian subcontinent under regional names including Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Lohri in Punjab, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi in Punjab, and Khichdi in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The festival celebrates the harvest, the reverence of the sun god Surya, and the gradual lengthening of days that brings the promise of spring.

Devotees rise before dawn for ritual baths in sacred rivers — the Ganges at Prayagraj, Varanasi, Haridwar, the Yamuna, the Godavari, and the Cauvery — believing that ablution on this day washes away accumulated sins. Special foods of sesame seeds and jaggery in the form of til-gud laddoos, gajak, and chikki are exchanged with the greeting "til-gud ghya, god-god bola" (eat tilgul and speak sweetly). Charitable donations of warm clothing, blankets, and food to the poor are widespread. Kite-flying competitions take over rooftops in Gujarat, Rajasthan, and Maharashtra, with the sky filled with thousands of colorful kites and the air thick with cheers of "kai po che."

Gujarat's Uttarayan is celebrated with the International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad, drawing professional kite-flyers from around the world. Tamil Nadu's four-day Pongal festival begins with Bhogi Pongal (cleaning of homes), followed by Thai Pongal (cooking of the eponymous sweet rice dish in a clay pot), Mattu Pongal (worship of cattle), and Kaanum Pongal (family visits). Punjab's Lohri is celebrated the night before with bonfires and the singing of Punjabi folk songs honoring the legendary hero Dulla Bhatti. Assam's Magh Bihu features traditional bamboo huts called meji that are burned at dawn. Bihar's Khichdi serves the eponymous lentil-and-rice dish to family and neighbors.