The auspicious festival of Makar Sankranti is celebrated across the country with lots of gaiety and splendour. Offering prayers and worship to the Sun god, Makar Sankranti inspires to have peace and harmony, love and forget the hatred and stay with unity.
Spiritual significance behind the festival-
According to Purana, on this special day of Makar Sankranti Lord Sun meets his son Sani for the first time who is the husband of the Makar rasi. As they never meet earlier so this meeting is regarded as a memorable one. According to another religious story veteran Vishma wished to die during this auspicious time of Makar Sankranti. Another story says that on the day of Maker Sankranti Lord Krishna demolished the terrorism of ashura and makes an end of all Ashura. After that he buries all the head of Ashura under the Mandar Parvat. Hence this period symbolizes the ending of evil power and darkness from the earth and beginning of new era.
The festival of Makar Sankranti ties up states as flowers into a sacred thread of joy and affection. In different regions of India, this festival is known by different regional names and the festivities are performed with varied rituals amidst of fun and merriment.
Uttarayan in Gujarat – A festival is best experienced at the heart of all actions. Makar Sankranti is observed as Uttarayan or kite flying festival in Gujarat. The sky changes colours as millions of kite enthusiasts pitch themselves on rooftops, waves of kites’ overwhelm on an otherwise deep blue sky. Crowded rooftops, fun-loving rivalry to outdo each other in kite flying skills and delicious traditional Gujarati feast of Undhiyo and Jalebee are the hallmarks of the day.
Bhogali OR Magha Bihu in Assam – This harvest festival in Assam is a feasting festival. As the name ‘Bhogali’ suggests ‘feasting’, Bihu is a celebration of food after a good harvest and a variety of sweets are prepared from rice, coconut and til. After the burning of ‘Mejis’ (made of bamboo, hay and dry leaves), people sit down to enjoy their fill of traditional Assamese food. Amid the enchanting notes of flutes and buffalo horns, the youths sing the Bihu songs with lyrics of a good harvest.
Pongal in Tamil Nadu – Between 14th to 17th January is the festival of Pongal, as it is called in Tamil Nadu. There are different aspects of this festival, which falls in the month of Thai in Tamil calendar. There is Bhogi, during which houses are cleaned, decorated, using materials like mango leaves and the first cut of paddy to enhance the vibrance in the house. All the unnecessary things in one’s home are disposed of. in some instances, bullfights which are locally known as ‘jallikattu’- bags full of money are tied to the horns of bulls, and young men endeavour to wrestle with the bulls to get the bags off .
Khichdi Parv in Uttar Pradesh/Uttarakhand – Apart from taking a holy dip in river Ganga ( Magha Snan) and flying kites on the day of Makar Sankranti, the day is celebrated by relishing a delicacy of khichdi ( prepared from rice and dal) and is offered to the Sun god as naivedya. After the pooja, it is distributed among the family members as Prasad. Magha Mela is also organised at Prayag (Allahabad) on this occasion.
Ellu Bella in Karnataka – Makar Sankranti is popularly known as Eellu Bella festival. Bulls and cows are decorated and use of freshly cut sugarcanes, sesame seeds, jaggery and coconut are used to prepare regional delicacies on this day.
Ganga Sagar festival in West Bengal – In West Bengal, this day is celebrated as Ganga sagar Mela. Called as the largest fair of West Bengal, a dip in the ocean of Ganges is considered sacred here and thus this town becomes a home to huge numbers of pilgrims every year.
Pedda Padunga in Andhra Pradesh – The festival of Sankranti is celebrated for four days in Andhra Pradesh. The first day isBhogi, the second is Makara Sankranti (the main festival day), day three is Kanumafollowed by Mukkanuma on the fourth day. On the day of Sankranti, ladies of the community draw muggulu (rangoli) and place gobbemma (cow dung) in its centre. Berries and flowers are put on kids.
With dispersion of Hindu communites across the country, the borders might change but the festival of Makar Sankranti resonates with memories of household rituals and traditional customs tied strongly with the thread of sentiments, values and faith.
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