Makar Sankranti: Meaning, Significance and cultural aspets of the Popular Festival

Bellevision Media Network

Makar Sankranti is celebrated on a fixed date, 14th January every year. This festival one of the major harvest festival which is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm. This festival is a traditional and oldest event that happens on an equinox that is the length of day and night remains equally long. After Makar Sankranti, the days grow longer and the nights shorter till the next equinox. It is said that on the day of Makar Sankranti, the Sun enters the sphere of Capricorn zodiac known as Makar. Further the term ‘Sankranti’ signifies the movement of the Sun from one zodiac sign into another. Thus, the auspicious day is named as Makar Sankranti, which perfectly defines the movement of the Sun to the sphere of Makara.Makar Sankranti marks the day when Sun transmigrates from its zodiac and moves northwards from Tropic of Cancer to the tropic of Capricorn. Makar Sankranti is a harvest festival in India, it is called by many names across the country. Its called Thai pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Maghi in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and Bhogali Bihu in Assam.

 

People fly kites in the mornings and take a dip in holy rivers like Ganga and Yamuna. It is a ritual which is believed to wash away sins. In Gujarat people start manufacturing kites in large numbers a month before Sankranti. Melas are a must during Makara Sankranti and the most famous one being the Kumbha Mela. Though Kumbh Mela is held in many places occasionally but it supposed to be held every 12 years in Haridwar, Prayag (Allahabad), Ujjain and Nashik. It is called the Magha Mela or mini-Kumbh Mela in Prayag, Makara Mela in Odisha and Tusu Mela in parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal.

The festival is dedicated to the Sun God and is a marker for new beginnings. As the sun takes a new journey and when winter begins to turn towards summer according to Hindu Calendar. In Hindu epics it is called the Uttaarayan. In Mahabharata, Bhishma Pitamah waited for the sun to be in Uttarayan for him to die peacefully.

 

In Karnataka this is the Suggi or harvest festival for farmers. 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 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 is display of cows and bulls 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. This ritual is common in rural Karnataka and is called "Kichchu Haayisuvudu."