Festivals of India | Walkabout
Makara Sankranti — the 4-day Indian Harvest Festival
Celebrated across India from 14 January
Pongal-o-pongal!
This is the chant you’ll hear across South India tomorrow as the pot cooking the rice and lentils in milk brims over, ushering in abundance!
Tomorrow is Makara Sankranthi, the 4-day harvest festival that is celebrated across India.
Let me give you a brief round-up of how it is celebrated in the major states:
In Punjab, it is celebrated as Lohri marking the New Year for farmers who pray with gratitude to the Sun God and Fire God. Winter crops are harvested. People light a bonfire outside their homes or in open spaces and offer sesame seeds, jaggery, gajak (chikki), rewdi (made with sesame), and peanuts to the lit bonfire as they circumambulate it, singing traditional songs and dancing to the beat of the dhol. After the crop is harvested, they cook and offer this to the fire. Lohri celebrates the arrival of warmer weather.
In Rajasthan, it is Makara Sankranti, with lots of delicacies, dancing, and getting together with family. Women gift clothes or household items to 13 other women. The first Makara Sankranti after marriage is important as parents invite their daughter home.
In Gujarat it is Uttarayan, indicating the course the sun takes as it begins to move along the northern sky, and celebrated for two days. People fly kites.
In Uttar Pradesh it is Kicheri. Over two million people gather in Allahabad Varanasi and Hardwar to bathe in the holy temple waters. The world’s largest religious gathering called the Kumbh Mela is celebrated in UP during this time.
Maharashtra celebrates Makar Sankranti for 3 days. People exchange sweets, til gul, laddus, puran poli and greet each other. On Sankranti eve, families serve their guests Tilgul or Tilgul sweets while saying “Tilgul ghya, goad goad bola” which literally means “Take Tilgul and talk sweetly”.
West Bengal celebrates this festival for 3 days as Posh Parbon. Sweets are exchanged, including freshly harvested paddy, date palm syrup, and Patali. The Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped on the day of Sankranti. It is called Baharlakshmi puja as well.
In Assam it is Magh Bihu/ Bhogali Bihu, marking the end of the harvest season and celebrated with feasting, dancing, and bonfires called mejis. sweets made of sesame and peanuts are distributed.
In Kerala, Makara Sankranti is celebrated on Sabarimala where the Makara Jyothi or lamp is visible followed by the Makaravilakku celebrations.
In Karnataka, where I now live, Sankranti is Suggi or harvest festival. Wearing new clothes, and exchanging sweets is the tradition. The Sankranti offering is called Ellu Bella, containing white sesame seeds or ellu, mixed with fried groundnuts, chopped dry coconut, and bits of jaggery. A unique thing with this offering is sugar candy molds with a piece of sugarcane.
People say “ellu bella thindu olle maathaadi” which means: eat the mixture of sesame seeds and jaggery and speak sweetly. Women draw rangoli in groups. Kite-flying is common. Another ritual is the display of cows and bulls in colorful costumes. Cows are beautifully decorated and taken on a procession.
In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Makara Sankranti is celebrated for four days as Bhogi, Sankranti, Kanuma, and Mukkanuma. The festival is marked by bonfires, kite flying, and bullock cart races. Freshly harvested rice and sugarcane are used in various dishes. Puran poli and other sweet delicacies are special for Sankranti.
In Tamil Nadu, my home state, it is called Thai Pongal, and is celebrated in a big way. It marks the first day of the first month of “Thai” in the Tamil calendar and there’s a saying which, roughly translated, means “when “thai” is born, solutions are born” (thai pirandhaal vazhi pirakkum). People believe that this month heralds the solutions to all problems and auspicious events are scheduled.
In South India, schools and offices are closed for at least four days.
We give thanks to the Sun God and Nature for their abundant blessings. Farmers, especially show their gratitude by cooking the first harvest of rice and watching it boil over (Pongal means boiling over), signifying prosperity and abundance.
On the first day or “Bhogi” which is today, people create a bonfire and burn or throw away all their old stuff, signifying the start of a new life.
Me, I gather my stuff and donate it to those who need it.
On the second day, which is tomorrow, we make “Pongal” which is rice and lentils cooked in milk and then prepared as two dishes — sweet rice and savory rice garnished with salt, pepper, curry leaves, and ghee.
Traditionally, this rice is cooked in a pot over an open fire and when it boils over, everyone says “Pongalo-Pongal” joyously! I cook in a pressure cooker and when it whistles, I say Pongalo-Pongal. The sun god Surya reigns over the harvest festival.
Of course, no festival at home is complete without delicious vadas as well because we love them.
Some of today’s “pongal” is kept overnight and the next morning which is day 3, we are up early to perform a wedding between the crow and the sparrow. Tradition. We serve curd rice, pongal, sweet pongal, fruits and sugarcane — and place bite-sized amounts on turmeric leaves and leave it on the terrace (roof) for the crows to eat.
Why this tradition? I think they meant that everyone should live harmoniously without differences — and hence the marriage between the crow and sparrow.
I love it!
On the third day, called Maatu Pongal, where maatu is cow, we offer thanks to the cows and buffaloes, which plow the land. Fitting, because Pongal is a harvest festival.
The last day or Kanum Pongal, in Tamil Nadu, is celebrated with an event called Jallikattu — taming of the bull. They tie bundles of money to the horns of the festival bulls — and villagers try to retrieve them. Dangerous stuff!
So that’s how we celebrate Makara Sankranti across India. I love that the entire country joins in to celebrate this. Families meet and have a great time.
Now join me in saying Pongal-o-pongal!
Vidya Sury, Collecting Smiles ❤ Did you smile today?
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