Festival of India: Makar Sankranti

Makar Sankranti (also known as Makara Sankranti or Maghi) refers both to a specific solar day in the Hindu calendar and a Indian festival in reference to deity Surya (sun) that is observed in January every year on 14th Jan.

It marks the first day of sun's transit into the Makara (Capricorn), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days.

                                                 Makar Sankranti (Sanskrit: मकर सङ्क्रान्ति) is set by the solar cycle of the Hindu lunisolar calendar, and is observed almost always on 14 January, and signifies the arrival of longer days. Makar Sankranti falls in the Hindu calendar solar month of Makara, and lunar month of Magha. It marks the end of the month with winter solstice and the darkest night of the year, a month that is called Pausha in lunar system and Dhanu is solar system of Hindu time keeping methodology. The festival celebrates the first month with consistently longer days.

                                                   The festival is dedicated to the Hindu sun god, Surya. This significance of Surya is traceable to the Vedic texts, particularly the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred hymn of Hinduism found in its scripture named the Rigveda. The festival also marks the beginning of a six months auspicious period for Hindus known as Uttarayana period.

Makara or Makar Sankranti is celebrated in many parts of Indian subcontinent with some regional variations. It is known by different names and celebrated with different customs in different parts of the region:

• Suggi Habba, Makar Sankramana , Makara Sankranthi : Karnataka
• Makar Sankranthi: Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala
• Makar Sankranti: Chhattisgarh, Goa, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Jammu
• Thai Pongal, Uzhavar Thirunal: Tamil Nadu
• Uttarayan: Gujarat
• Maghi: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.
• Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu: Assam
• Shishur Saenkraat: Kashmir Valley
• Khichdi: Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar
• Poush Sangkranti: West Bengal
• Tila Sakrait: Mithila

In other countries too the day is celebrated by Hindus, but under different names and in different ways.

• Nepal: Maghe Sankranti or Maghi- /Khichdi Sankranti
• Bangladesh: Shakrain/ Poush Sangkranti
• Pakistan (Sindh): Tirmoori
• Sri Lanka -Pongal or Ulavar Thirunaal