01What Makar Sankranti is
Makar Sankranti is the day the Sun enters Makar, sidereal Capricorn, and the one Sankranti celebrated as a major festival across nearly all of India. The tradition counts it as the start of Uttarayan, the northward course of the Sun and the auspicious half of the year, which is why it is a day of bathing and giving everywhere. It goes by many names: Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Khichdi in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Magh Bihu in Assam, Maghi in Punjab and Sankranti in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, with Lohri on the evening before.
02The story told of it
The tradition reads the day as the turning of the year toward light. Uttarayan, the six months of the northward course of the Sun, is called the day of the gods, and its opening is greeted with bathing at dawn and with gifts. A Puranic account tells that on this day Surya goes to visit his son Shani, the lord of Makar, setting their old distance aside, which is why it is kept as a day for sweetness between people: til and jaggery are shared, and in Maharashtra with the words eat til-gul and speak sweetly. The tradition also tells that Ganga, following Bhagiratha, reached the sea on this day at Gangasagar.
03How it is kept
Snan and daan are the core of the day: a bath at dawn, at Prayag, Gangasagar or any river, then gifts of til, jaggery, khichdi, blankets and grain. Til is everywhere, in laddoos, chikki and gajak. In Gujarat and Rajasthan the sky fills with kites from morning till dark. In Tamil Nadu Pongal is a harvest festival of four days, named for the rice and milk dish cooked until it boils over. Punjab lights Lohri bonfires the evening before, with rewri and peanuts thrown into the flames. In Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh the day is named for the khichdi that is cooked and given away.
04How the day is chosen
A Sankranti is kept on the day the Sun enters the new rashi. When it enters after sunset, the tradition keeps Makar Sankranti on the next day, which is why the date is 14 January in some years and 15 January in others.
05Makar Sankranti in other years
