"Makar Sankranti: A Tapestry of Tradition, Celebration, and Sweet Connections"

Remember digging into those melt-in-your-mouth tilkut laddoos as a kid, giggling from the tickle of

sesame seeds on your nose? Or cozying up by a crackling bonfire, the smoky scent filling the air with a promise of winter’s chill giving way to warmer days? That is the magic of Makar Sankranti.

During the Makar Sankranti festival, you generally will see colorful kites in the sky, grandparents, their eyes twinkling with mischief, helping their grandchildren tie the perfect kites, and their weathered hands guiding theirs with practiced ease. This ancient festival, woven with threads of family, tradition, and the promise of renewal, marks a turning point in the year—casting off the last shivers of winter and embracing the sun’s northward journey, basking in the hope of brighter days ahead. This blog of mine is dedicated to the readers to traverse along and learn about the history, the significance of Makar Sankranti, the customs and traditions associated with it, why Makar Sankranti is celebrated, how it is celebrated across India, what Makar Sankranti wishes you could send your loved ones, and a lot more.

Makar Sankranti, meaning

What is Makar Sankranti? Makar Sankranti, at its core, marks the sun’s transition into the zodiac sign of Capricorn. “Makar” refers to Capricorn, and “Sankranti” denotes the movement of the sun into a new celestial orbit. This celestial phenomenon signifies the triumph of light over darkness, heralding longer, sunlit days.

Why Makar Sankranti is celebrated

It is a festival deeply tied to India’s culture, religion, and agriculture. The Makar Sankranti festival unites diverse communities across India, celebrating not only the sun’s northward journey but also the promise of renewal, prosperity, and the strengthening of familial bonds.

Makar Sankranti: Background

From a religious perspective, Makar Sankranti holds a sacred resonance for Hindus and is particularly dedicated to the worship of Surya, the sun god. Beyond being a celestial body, the sun symbolizes the cosmic source of energy, light, and life. Ritualistic dips in holy rivers, undertaken by many on this auspicious day, carry symbolic weight, signifying a spiritual cleansing to purify the soul from accumulated sins. In regions steeped in mythology, the festival marks the triumph of virtue over evil with Lord Vishnu’s legendary defeat of a demon.

Agriculturally, Makar Sankranti marks the threshold of the harvest season, prompting farmers to express gratitude for a fruitful yield and to seek blessings for a prosperous future. The festival becomes a time for communities to come together, sharing the joy of abundance and fostering a sense of collective gratitude.

Adding to the festivities, the tradition of flying kites becomes a symbol of dispelling negativity, creating an environment filled with hope and positive energy.

As colorful kites dot the sky, they signify not just a playful activity but a collective celebration of newfound warmth and the promise of brighter days.

The Makar Sankranti festival, therefore, becomes a cultural tapestry where religious devotion, agricultural celebration, and community spirit seamlessly intertwine, creating a vibrant mosaic that mirrors the rich diversity of India. The very essence of Makar Sankranti lies in its symbolic meaning, signifying the cyclical rhythm of nature and the collective rejoicing in the renewal of life and prosperity.

Now that you’ve understood why Makar Sankranti is celebrated, let’s learn more about the significance of Makar Sankranti, when Makar Sankranti is celebrated, its history, and a whole lot more.

Although the fast-paced modern life in metropolitan cities has changed over the years, people have still managed to retain the traditional fervor. Traditionally, in Maharashtra, the day begins with bathing in water filled with sesame seeds.

Married women celebrate wedded life by anointing each other with scented waters, exchanging turmeric and vermillion, and enjoying the haldi kunku. Married women also exchange sugad, which are earthen clay pots containing sugarcane sticks, berries, carrot pieces, puffed rice, turmeric, cloth, and cotton. Five married women distribute five Sugads to five other married women.

This is one of those festivals where the color black is worn without disapproval, as it signifies the end of the black period and the welcoming of a happy, new time. Maharashtrian women wear a special black saree called the Chandrakala, which is embossed with stars and small crescent moons. Another reason for wearing black is because Sankranti comes at the peak of the winter, and wearing black helps to absorb heat and keep the body warm.

Halwyache daagine, or ornaments made out of halwa (a sweet pudding of sugar-coated sesame), are offered to the newlywed bride at the traditional Sunache Tilavan, which is the first welcome to the daughter-in-law.

Bornahan is organized for babies less than a year old, which involves the baby's first bath with ber or pieces of sugarcane, rice, and sweets and welcomes the first spring of his or her life. Women and children go to the house of the baby and anoint him or her with amla (Indian gooseberry) and bor (a small red fruit).

The best food items during the festival are til gul, which consists of sesame and jaggery, both symbols of prosperity, and gulaachi poli/bhakri (round, thick rotis made of sesame and jaggery dusted with sesame and crowned with butter). Other food items like Bajra Khichdi, curd rice, til gajak, kurmure laddoo, and payesh.

Since Makar Sankranti also marks the beginning of the harvest festival in Maharashtra and all over India, it is celebrated by flying kites, taking a dip in the holy waters of the Ganga or Yamuna, taking a bath with sesame oil, worshipping ancestors with a sesame oil lamp, and exchanging til guls. A dip or bath signifies self-purification and gaining ‘punya’ (blessing). A special puja is also offered as a thanksgiving for a good harvest. According to folklore, any boy or girl who takes a dip in the holy waters is blessed with a good-looking and charming partner. It is believed that whatever you give away with a good and pure heart on this day will be returned to you in abundance in this life or the next by the Sun God.

In Maharashtra, people exchange til guls or tilache ladoo and greet each other, saying til-gul ghya, god god bola, which means accept these sweets and speak sweet words. The underlying thought is to let go of any harsh feelings towards each other and resolve to speak lovingly and remain friends. It is a sign of goodwill and friendship.

The offering of tilguls on this day symbolizes that one's soul should be as tender as the sesame seed and one’s voice should be sweet like jaggery. It stands for love for each other, respect for one’s elders, and affection for one’s neighbors.

Now that black is usually considered an inauspicious color and not worn on any auspicious day, it is the color of choice for Makar Sankranti. Why, you wonder? Here's the reason: It is the day when the sun starts its northern movement; hence, this day marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring.

Intriguingly, while black is generally considered inauspicious on other festive occasions, it becomes a symbol of grace and sophistication on Makar Sankranti in Maharashtra. The people of Maharashtra have a unique tradition of adorning themselves in black sarees during the festivities. The dark allure of black is believed to capture the essence of this transitional period, as Makar Sankranti marks the culmination of winter and the beginning of spring. Black sarees, with their understated elegance, exude a sense of warmth and comfort, making them the ideal choice to embrace the coolness of the season’s final days.

Maharashtrian Makar Sakranti: Maharashtra's Favorite Festival

A blog dedicated to looking forward to Sankranti 2024 and dressing up plus celebration time:

As soon as New Year festivities had ended, we children would all start looking forward to January 14th, which is when Makar Sankranti gets celebrated in Hindu homes. While New Year was really an event when the adults had more fun (all that dancing and partying), Sankranti was just the appropriate event to bring joy and delight to a kid’s heart. The peals of Happy Makar Sankranti or Happy Sankranti ringing across all households herald, like many traditional festivals in India, the harvest season. Makar Sankranti’s significance revolves around worshipping the Sun God, with people praying to the bountiful deity for success and prosperity.

As a kid, residing in Yeola sub-district, a part of the larger district of Ahmednagar in Maharashtra, one of my most abiding memories is the kite-flying that continues to be an integral part and parcel of the day’s festivities. To be honest, the day was more picnic than festival, with all our mothers spending several days before the celebrations in their kitchens making the most delicious sweets, such as til gur, farsan, and other delicacies, which would then be carefully transported to the terrace along with our kites and lovingly prepared manjha's (kite strings) and a picnic rug on which to loll about when Sankranti dawned. Parents and kids, moms and grandmoms, would hoist themselves up to the terrace for a day-long session of kite-flying and merry-making. Amidst being fed sweets at a constant pace and lustily crying out kaaate as one more neighbor’s kite got summarily dismissed in the competition between our fathers, we were in heavenly bliss (and a sugar rush) the entire day.

And certainly, if it is an Indian festival, how can the food be left far behind? One of the shared cultural practices of Sankranti across various parts of India is making sticky sweets from sesame (til) and a sugar base such as jaggery or kaakvi (sugarcane molasses). This special sweet symbolizes the concept of togetherness and of support, not withstanding our uniqueness and our differences. In Maharashtra, people exchange Til-Gur Ladoos (sweets made from sesame and jaggery) and special sweets like puran polis (flatbread made with lentil and jaggery stuffing).

Not only do they have some deep symbolism behind them, but like much of the traditional wisdom that only our naani's and aaji's (grandmothers) remember, these sweets also have several health benefits associated with the specific season. Til, dink (edible gum), and jaggery are all warmth-inducing and rich in vitamins, such as vitamin D (something that a weak winter sun would not have provided to our ancestors), as well as iron and calcium.

While distributing these sweets, an often heard refrain in Maharashtra one comes across is "Til gurghyaaani god god bola," which means eat this sesame and jaggery sweet and speak sweet words—something all of us could do with implementing not only on Sankranti but throughout the year.

And on this note, a very happy Sankranti to all of you!

This week's blog writing: Makar Sankranti and Celebration Time for New Year Dressing in Black...