Pongal, Makar Sankranti or Lohri – India’s thanksgiving festival has numerous names and accompanying traditions, each one adding to the country’s vibrant cultural mosaic.
anuary 14-17 are auspicious days for Hindus across India, as they celebrate the thanksgiving or harvest festival of Thai Pongal, also known as Makar Sankranti or Lohri in some parts of the country. Owing to India’s vastness and cultural diversity, the festival has a number of different names and traditions of celebration, but it is always celebrated at the end of the harvest season, when the sun makes its transit from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn.
Pongal or Thai Pongal in South India
The South Indians call this festival Thai Pongal or Pongal, and it is widely celebrated in Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, and by Tamilians in Sri Lanka. ‘Thai’ refers to the tenth month of the Tamil calendar while pongal literally means ‘boiling over’ of milk and rice, auspicious foods consumed during the festival. Traditionally, the boiling over of milk symbolises material abundance for the household. After thanking the sun god Surya for the good harvest and consecrating the first grain to him, the Tamilians celebrate by decorating their homes with banana and mango leaves and eating the popular dish pongal (made from rice, milk, lentils, nuts and spices).
Makar Sankranti in Maharashtra, Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Bihar
Also celebrated as the winter harvest, Makar Sankranti is characterised by the flying of kites, as veneration to the gods – hence its popular name of ‘Kite Flying Day’. Makar is the 10th house of the Indian zodiac (corresponding with Capricorn); hence the name. The most characteristic aspect of Makar Sankranti is its kites: villages often organise community kite-flying competitions and elsewhere families gather to fly kites together. Another symbol of this festival is ’tilgul’ – sugar or jaggery-coated sesame seeds that are eaten for luck and prosperity.
Lohri in Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Jammu
Lohri is traditionally associated with the harvest of the rabi crops and is accompanied by worshipping fire. Various food items such as flour, butter, and peanuts are offered to the deities to thank them for a good harvest. There are a host of celebrations that take place: children go from door to door singing songs in return for money or sweets; sugar-cane juice and sweet sesame seed laddoos are prepared and distributed; and the day ends with the bonfire ritual where with the setting of the sun, huge bonfires are lit in the harvested fields. People gather around the bonfires and throw puffed rice and corn into the fire while singing popular folk songs. This is in reverance to the fire god Agni, asking him to bless the land with abundance. Men then perform the traditional bhangra dance to the beat of drums while women do the gidda dance. Farmers in Punjab consider Lohri as their financial new year as well and it is an extremely significant day for them.
