India, a vibrant country with a myriad of different cultures and festivals, welcomes the new calendar year with Makar Sankranti, a festival that commemorates the sun's transition back into the northern hemisphere. This celebration carries profound significance as one of India's most crucial harvest festivals and is beeing celebrated in different forms across the country, with varying customs and traditions.
In some regions, Makar Sankranti is celebrated with feasts, bonfires, and traditional dances. In others, it is observed as a time for introspection and self-purification. Some people also visit holy sites and take a dip in holy rivers to wash away their sins and purify themselves. The skies take upon a colourful display of handmade kites of various shapes and sizes along with kite fighting competitions where you can win whichever kite you cut down from the sky. Makar Sankranti is one of the few ancient Indian festivals that is still observed according to the solar cycle and always falls on the 14th or 15th of January.
Lohri
Punjab and Northern States
In Punjab and the Northern states, Lohri is an official holiday. It marks the beginning of the harvest and warmer days. It is celebrated with bonfires, festive food, dancing, singing and exchanging gifts. The large bonfire is lit at sunset in the main village square. People wear new and bright clothes and dance the traditional Bhangra or Giddha to the beat of the Dhol or large barrel drums around the bonfire till the fire dies out. The festival has a unique collection of Lohri songs themed around the folklore of the tale of Dulla Bhatti, a hero of Punjab who rescued girls from being forcibly taken to be sold in slave markets during the Mughal era.
For 10-15 days before Lohri, children go from door to door around the neighbourhood singing songs and collecting logs for the bonfire and sweets. All the food during Lohri celebrates the harvest from sweets made of sugarcane products like jaggery and nuts like Gajak (sweet made from ground sesame seeds, spice and jaggery). People eat sheaves of roasted corn from the new harvest as well as dishes made with radishes and mustard greens. The favourite snack of the festival is the Tilcholi, a mixture of jaggery, sesame seeds and puffed rice. A traditional Lohri dinner consists of Sarson da saag (a curry made out of mustard greens and other green leafy vegetables), Makki di roti (a cornmeal flatbread), grated radish along with groundnuts and jaggery.
Pongal or Bhogi
Tamil Nadu, Southern States and Sri Lanka
Rice is the most important crop in South India. With the year’s rice harvest and as the new agricultural cycle begins with the planting of the new crop, Pongal is celebrated as the most significant harvest festival in the southern states. The word “Pongal” translates to “boiling over” or “spilling over,” and the festival is named after a special dish made from freshly harvested rice which is sweetened with raw cane jaggery and garnished with nuts, ghee, and aromatic spices. The act of cooking Pongal is a ritual in itself, and traditionally done outdoors in large clay pots in the sunlight as the dish is dedicated to the Sun God.
The festivities last for four days starting with discarding old belongings and wearing new clothes on the first day symbolising shedding of the past and embracing the change. At dawn, people gather and light a bonfire to burn the discarded items. The Pongal dish is made on the second day and offered to the Sun God to express gratitude for a successful harvest. Cattle are honoured on the third day for contributing to the harvest by bathing them, painting their horns and giving them treats. The final day is a time for family gatherings. The celebrations are accompanied by folk music, dance, temple visits, exchanging gifts and cultural performances.
Magh Bihu
Assam and North-Eastern states
The North Eastern states are a convergence of diverse cultures and minorities that celebrate communal festivals together regardless of their differences. The Magh Bihu marks the end of the harvesting season. In some regions, the festivities last for several days with bonfires and feasts. On the first day, the youngsters build a circle of small makeshift huts out of bamboo, leaves and thatch known as Meji or Bhelagar. In the centre of the circle, preparations for a large bonfire are made while the women prepare the food and sweets for the feast like Doi Chira (Flattened rice with yoghurt and jaggery), Pitha (Rice dumplings filled with plantain, sweet potato or banana), rice cakes and curries made with chicken, fish, pork, mutton or duck. It is a tradition to steal vegetables from the neighbour's backyard without getting caught to use in dishes for the feast.
As the bonfire is lit, people celebrate with fermented rice beer while playing traditional games such as Tekeli Bhonga (pot-breaking) and buffalo fighting accompanied by folk dances and singing. People spend the night in the makeshift huts which are burned the next morning after breakfast to mark the beginning of the new agricultural cycle.
Unity in Diversity
While the festival is celebrated in different forms across India, the feelings remain the same. People greet each other with goodwill and exchange sweets especially made with jaggery and sesame seeds hoping to forget all the hostilities against each other and forgive the past to come together as a community.
