Makar Sankranti - 1

January 14, 2002

I would like to mention two major festivals that

I am familiar with which are celebrated in January.

Makar-Sankranti is celebrated around this time withgreat pomp. In

Pune (Maharshtra) I remember people would come with

sugar/mollases and til(sesame seeds) and say 'Til Gud Gheya Ani

God God bola' (take the sesame seeds and mollases and

say sweet things). Enemity is forgotten at this time

- it is the time to celebrate love and brotherhood.

On the day of MakarSankranti the people in West

Bengal celebrate GangaSagar Mela and the people in

Northern India celebrate Lohri. The largest fair of

the state of West Bengal, Gangasagar Mela is a

three-day event held in mid-January, on the occasion of

Makar Sankranti, at Sagar Dwip. Numerous pilgrims come

for a holy dip at the confluence of the Ganga and the

Bay of Bengal. During the Kurukshetra

(Mahabharata) war, it is said, the wounded Bhisma , who had the

power to choose the time of his death, lay on his bed

of arrows for 26 days so that he could die on Makar

Sankranti day as on this sacred day, when the sun begins

its northward journey (the uttarayan) by entering the

‘Makar Rashi’ (the Capricorn), the doors of heaven are

kept open. All ‘divya-atmas’ (sacred souls) will go to

heaven and will be spared a rebirth”, explained Bhisma

to Yudhishthira. The legend lives on. So does

the celebration of the beginning of the auspicious

time of Sun’s northern course. Falling on the 14th of

January every year, this day has another special

significance — the day and night are of exactly equal hours.

Makar Sankranti also marks the harvesting of the winter

crops. In Bengal ‘Makar Sankranti’ entails the preparation

of traditional rice-sweets called ‘Pithey’ and the

holy fair — Ganga Sagar Mela at the Sagar Dweep.

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