WHY IS MAKAR SANKRANTI CELEBRATED ?

MAKAR SANKRANTI

WHY IS MAKAR SANKRANTI CELEBRATED ?

 

Makar Sankranti is celebrated in all over India and Nepal in a myriad of cultural forms. It is a harvest festival so is celebrated by mainly farmers and successors of farmer families. Makar Sankranti marks the transition of the Sun into the zodiac sign of Makara rashi (Capricorn) on its celestial path. The day is also believed to mark the arrival of spring in India and is a traditional event. Makara Sankranti is a solar event making one of the few Indian festivals which fall on the same date in the Gregorian calendar every year: 14 January, with some exceptions when the festival is celebrated on a day before or after.

It is also believed that form this day winters starts getting over and harvesting of crops is started.

Sankranti is celebrated all over South Asia with some regional variations. It is known by different names and celebrated with different customs in different parts of the country popularly celebrated in Karnataka (Sankranthi), Telangana (Sankranthi), Andhra pradesh (Sankranthi) and Tamil Nadu (Pongal).
In India it is known by different regional names.

• Makar Sankranti: Chhattisgarh, Goa, Odisha, Haryana, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana,Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, and West Bengal
• Pongal,Uzhavar Thirunal: Tamil Nadu
• Uttarayan: Gujarat
• Maghi: Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab. The day before, people of Punjab celebrate Lohri.
• Bhogali Bihu: Assam
• Shishur Saenkraat: Kashmir Valley
• Khichdi: Uttar Pradesh and western Bihar
• Makara Sankramana: Karnataka

In other countries too the day is celebrated but under different names and in different ways.

• Nepal: Maghe Sankranti
  • Tharu people,

Nepali Maithils, Newar :- Maghe Sankranti

• • Other people: Maghe Sankranti or Maghe Sakrati
• Thailand: สงกรานต์ Songkran
• Laos: Pi Ma Lao
• Myanmar: Thingyan
• Cambodia: Moha Sangkran
• Sri Lanka: Pongal, Uzhavar Thirunal

Many melas or fairs are held on Makara Sankranti the most famous being the Kumbha Mela, held every 12 years at one of four holy locations, namely Haridwar, Prayag (Allahabad), Ujjain and Nashik. The Magha Mela (or mini-Kumbh Mela held annually at Prayag) and the Gangasagar Mela (held at the head of the Ganges River, where it flows into the Bay of Bengal). Makara Mela in Odisha. Tusu Mela also called as Tusu Porab is celebrated in many parts of Jharkhand and West Bengal.