Makara Sankranti

Makara Sankranti marks the day when sun appears to enter the zodiac of Makara (Capricorn). Traditionally, the day coincides with the northward movement of sun having reached its southern most point, the phenomenon known as Uttarayana in Vedic philosophy. It was an extremely potent day, marking a transition in energy. According to Vedic tradition the six months of Uttarayana are a single day of the gods; the six months of Dakshinayana are a single night of the gods. In Mahabharata, Bheeshma Pitamaha, choose to leave his body for the heavenly abode on it this day since it marks the onset of auspicious time.

I remember as a kid, Sankranti was a time for flying Kites, which would actually start a month before and it is a exciting sport with competitions between different kite flyers , Huge colourful Rangoli in front of the houses, A Haridas - person dressed in traditional clothes carrying a tambura (musical instrument) singing songs glorifying Lord Vishnu and going house to house asking for alms, accompanied by beautifully decorated Cow. Sankranti marks the victory of Good over evil. This was the day, when the demon Mahishasura was killed by Durga. This day marks the beginning of Sunny days with days being longer and the end of winter season. Sankranti is actually a four day festival. Day one is called Bhogi, where people light fire in front of the houses and discard old, unused items in the fire. Day two is the Sankranti and day three and four are called Kanuma and chinna kanuma, which is a festival of herds of cattle a farmer has which is usually Cows and Bulls. On this day, the farmers clean their cattle, colour the horns and decorate them etc. And then, there are number of sweets and snacks are prepared with the new harvest that was received like, new grains of rice, a preparation called chakilam is made, which rice flour is mixed with other mild spices. The semi-solid rice flour is coiled into circles and fired in oil, the result being a wonderful crispy snack which stays good for months. Kids Shower - On Bhogi, the infants and small kids are made to sit together and showered some fruits like, Jujube fruit mixed with small balls of rice snacks etc to protect them from evil eye.