Makar Sankranti: What, Why, When, How

What it is

Makar Sankranti is the day the Sun enters Makara, the sign of Capricorn in the sidereal zodiac. It is one of the few Hindu festivals set by the Sun rather than the Moon, so it falls in mid-January almost every year. Across India it is a harvest festival and a day to thank the Sun, give to others and share sweets made of sesame and jaggery.

It has many names. Most of India calls it Makar Sankranti, or simply Sankranti. Gujarat calls it Uttarayan and fills the sky with kites. In Tamil Nadu it is Pongal, a festival of three or four days: Bhogi, Thai Pongal, Mattu Pongal for the cattle, and Kaanum Pongal for visiting family. In Punjab the eve is Lohri, with a bonfire, and the day itself is Maghi. In Assam it is Magh Bihu, or Bhogali Bihu, the feast after the harvest. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana keep Bhogi, Sankranti and Kanuma. Uttar Pradesh and Bihar call it Khichdi, and Bengal Poush Sankranti.

Many pilgrims bathe in holy rivers on this day, above all where the Ganga meets the sea at Ganga Sagar in Bengal, and at Prayagraj.

Why it is kept

The Sun's northward journey. In the traditional reckoning Makar Sankranti begins Uttarayana, the half of the year when the Sun moves north and the days grow longer. The Mahabharata gives this time great honour. The elder Bhishma, lying wounded on a bed of arrows, chose to wait for it before leaving his body; in K. M. Ganguli's translation he says: “I will sleep on this bed till the Sun turneth to the northern solstice!” (Bhishma Parva, section 122). When the time comes, he tells Yudhishthira that the holy Surya “has begun his northward course” (Anushasana Parva, section 167). The Bhagavad Gita (8.24) also counts the six months of the Sun's northern course among the marks of the bright path (8.26).

Sky and calendar. The Sun's actual turn to the north, the winter solstice, now comes about twenty-four days before Makar Sankranti. The two fell together about seventeen centuries ago; because the Hindu solar calendar follows the stars, the festival has slowly moved later in the Western calendar since then, by about one day every seventy years. Tradition keeps the sidereal day.

Ganga reaches the sea. Bengal links the day with the story of King Bhagiratha, who brought the river Ganga down from heaven to the sea so that the ashes of his ancestors, the sons of Sagara, could be washed by her waters. Valmiki's Ramayana tells the descent of the Ganga in its first book. The great bathing fair at Ganga Sagar is held on Makar Sankranti.

Harvest and thanks. Above all the day is a harvest thanksgiving. Pongal thanks the Sun, the rain and the cattle who help the farmer. Lohri gathers families around a fire in the cold, with songs, and gives thanks for the winter crops; a baby's or a bride's first Lohri is a special celebration. Magh Bihu feasts on the new rice after the harvest is in.

The texts behind the story

• Mahabharata, Bhishma Parva, section 122, and Anushasana Parva, section 167 (Bhishma waits for the Sun's northward course). K. M. Ganguli (tr.), The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa (Calcutta: Bharata Press, published by Protap Chandra Roy): Bhishma Parva (1887) and Anusasana Parva (1893). Ganguli died 1908 and Roy 1895 (reference records ganguli-mahabharata-bhishma-1887 and ganguli-mahabharata-anushasana-1893): public domain. Two short phrases are quoted verbatim from the printed pages and marked as Ganguli's. (Bhishma Parva, Section CXXII, p. 450 (leaf n477); Anusasana Parva, Section CLXVII, p. 776 (leaf n791) in archive.org mahabharataofkri08royp)
• The Rámáyan of Válmíki, translated into English verse by Ralph T. H. Griffith, vol. I: Book I (London: Trübner; Benares: E. J. Lazarus, 1870) (Book I, cantos XLII–XLIV, pp. 184–198; Ganga reaches the sea and her waters wash the ashes of Sagar's sons, p. 196 (leaf n231))
• The Ganga Sagar fair at Makara Sankranti, and the legend told there of Kapila, the sons of Sagara and Bhagiratha, whose ancestors' ashes the Ganga washed. L. S. S. O'Malley, Bengal District Gazetteers: 24-Parganas (Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Book Depot, 1914; title page, leaf n5). O'Malley died 1941: summarised in our own words. ('Sagar Island', pp. 254–256 (leaves n268–n270))
• The Lohri bonfire, with the girls singing. H. A. Rose (comp.), A Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, vol. I (Lahore: Government Printing, 1919). Rose died 1933, Ibbetson 1908, Maclagan 1952: summarised in our own words. ('The Lohri festival', p. 794 (leaf n819))
• Bhagavad Gita, 8.24
• Bhagavad Gita, 8.26
• Makara Sankranti in the digests: the start of the Sun's northern course, and the punya kala of forty ghatikas after the Sankranti (Dharmasindhu). Read in P. V. Kane, History of Dharmasastra, vol. 5, part 1 (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1958). Kane died 1972: cited, not quoted. (vol. 5, part 1, pp. 213, 217, 222–223)

When it is kept

Makar Sankranti is the moment the Sun enters sidereal Makara, computed with the Lahiri ayanamsa. If that moment comes before sunset at your location, Sankranti is kept that day; if it comes after sunset, the holy period moves to the next morning and the festival is kept the next day. The holy period for bathing and giving (punya kala) runs for forty ghatis, about sixteen hours, from the moment of the Sankranti, counted within daylight; the app shows it. The related days follow from this: Lohri is the evening before (engine id lohri); Magh Bihu is the same day, with the Uruka feast the night before (magh-bihu); Thai Pongal is the first day of the Tamil month Thai, by the same sunset rule (thai-pongal), with Bhogi the day before and Mattu Pongal the day after (bhogi, mattu-pongal).

The date, from the calendar engine

• Makar Sankranti 2027: Puja falls on Thursday, January 14, 2027 in Washington DC (computed for this city). In New Delhi it falls on Friday, January 15, 2027.

The date depends on your city. Every city we cover is on the year page.

Traditions and regional customs

• Sidereal (Lahiri ayanamsa): the Sun's entry into Makara, before or after sunset
• Tamil: Thai Pongal on the first day of Thai, with Bhogi, Mattu Pongal and Kaanum Pongal
• Punjabi: Lohri on the eve, Maghi on the day
• Assamese: Magh Bihu, with Uruka the night before
• Gujarati: Uttarayan, with kites
• Telugu: Bhogi, Sankranti and Kanuma
• Bengali: Poush Sankranti and the Ganga Sagar bath

Why the day can differ

The moment of Sankranti is the same everywhere, but sunset is not. When the Sun enters Makara in the late afternoon or evening in one place, the festival can fall on different dates in cities a few time zones apart. Temples abroad have also published different days: one temple in New York, for example, listed Makar Sankranti a day earlier than the common Indian panchangs in one recent year.

Regional solar calendars use their own rules for the first day of a month: the Tamil rule is the same sunset rule, while Bengali, Odia and Malayali calendars each have a different rule, so a regional new-month day can differ by a day. The Assamese calendar's own rule for Magh Bihu was not found in a primary source; the app uses the Makar Sankranti day. Panchangs that use another ayanamsa than Lahiri can put the moment some minutes away, which matters only when it is close to sunset.

How to keep it at home

1. Bathe early, within the punya kala shown in the app. Many families add a few sesame seeds to the bath water; pilgrims bathe in a holy river or the sea.
2. Offer water to the rising Sun (arghya) from a copper pot, with red flowers, rice and a few sesame seeds, and say a prayer to Surya. Prayers often used are the Aditya Hridayam from the Ramayana, the twelve names of the Sun said with Surya Namaskar, and "Om Suryaya Namah".
3. Give (daan): sesame, jaggery, rice and lentils for khichdi, warm clothes or blankets, to people in need or to a temple or food bank. Share sesame-jaggery sweets with friends; in Maharashtra, families say "Tilgul ghya, goad goad bola": take this sweet, and speak sweetly.
4. Pongal: on Bhogi, clear out old things and clean the house. On Thai Pongal, draw a kolam and boil milk and new rice with jaggery in a new pot, outdoors in the sun if you can, until it boils over; everyone calls "Pongalo Pongal!". Offer it to the Sun with sugarcane and turmeric plants. On Mattu Pongal, families with cattle bathe and decorate them; others give thanks for the animals and the farmers who feed them.
5. Lohri: on the evening before Sankranti, light a bonfire with family and neighbours, walk around it and offer peanuts, popcorn, rewri and gajak into the flames, then share them and sing the Lohri songs. Magh Bihu: feast together on the night of Uruka and burn the meji, a bonfire hut, at dawn. Where open fires are not allowed, a lamp or a fire bowl outdoors with permission keeps the custom.
6. Uttarayan: fly kites from rooftops or open fields. Fly them far from power lines, use cotton string rather than glass-coated thread, which hurts birds, and keep children safe on roofs.

Fasting

Makar Sankranti is mainly a day of bathing, giving and feasting, not fasting. Some families eat only after the bath and the offering to the Sun, and some keep the day simple with khichdi. Anyone with a health condition should follow their doctor's advice on cold-water bathing and fasting.

Food

Sesame and jaggery are everywhere: til laddoos, tilgul, chikki, gajak and rewri. Tamil homes cook sakkarai pongal (sweet) and ven pongal (savoury). Punjab eats sarson ka saag with makki ki roti on Lohri, Gujarat undhiyu with jalebi on Uttarayan, Bihar dahi-chura with til sweets, Uttar Pradesh khichdi with ghee, Bengal pithe and patishapta, Karnataka ellu-bella (sesame, jaggery, coconut and peanuts), and Assam pitha, laru and the Uruka feast.

For children

In winter the days are short and the nights are long. On Makar Sankranti families say thank you to the Sun, who is starting its journey north, so the days will slowly grow longer and warmer. They also thank the farmers and the animals for the new harvest. In Tamil Nadu a pot of milk and rice is boiled until it bubbles over, and everyone shouts "Pongalo Pongal!", because a pot that overflows means there is plenty to share.

Something to do together

With a grown-up, make small til laddoos from toasted sesame seeds and melted jaggery, and give them to neighbours or friends. Or make a paper kite together and fly it in an open park, far from wires.

Sources

• Panchang engine rules makar-sankranti, lohri, magh-bihu, thai-pongal, bhogi and mattu-pongal (packages/panchang/data/festivals.json), with the sources each rule lists, including the notes on the temple that published a different day and on the Assamese calendar's rule.
• N. Dershowitz and E. M. Reingold, "Indian Calendrical Calculations" (§4, the solar critical times: the sunset rule and the Bengali, Odia and Malayali rules for the start of a solar month).
• K. M. Ganguli (tr.), The Mahabharata, Anusasana Parva (Calcutta, 1893), Section CLXVII, p. 776. Ganguli died 1908: public domain.
• Wikipedia, "Makar Sankranti" (background on the Sun's move into Capricorn, Makara, also called Uttarayana, and the regional names).