How India celebrates the first festival of the year

Seema Mattoo | TNN | Jan 14, 2016, 12.24PM IST
HIGHLIGHTS
• Makar Sankranti, biggest festival in India
• It marks the onset of spring season and the new harvest, bringing the winter season to an end.
• It can also be called as the the Indian Thanksgiving
The country is all set to celebrate Makar Sankranti, one of the biggest festival in India, which is dedicated to the Sun God.
It marks the onset of spring season and the new harvest, bringing the winter season to an end. It can also be called as the the Indian Thanksgiving, celebrated amdist much fervour and fun-filled activities like kite flying, a dip in the holy water, singing and dancing while sharing sweets made of rice, sesame seeds and jaggery. Offering sweets to friends and relatives symbolises a well-being prayer for all -both in action and deeds. The festival is celebrated in various regions in different ways -as the food, customs and celebration vary from region to region.

MAHARASHTRA For Sankranti, married Maharashtrian women organise haldi-kumkum ceremonies at home where sweets and gifts are exchanged. The traditional food items are til gul, which are small sugar balls and tilache laddoo made of sesame seeds and jaggery .Some also make gulaachi poli, which are round thick Indian bread using a stuffing of sesame seeds and jaggery and served with a dollop of fresh ghee.

BIHAR-JHARKHAND Here the traditional name for the festival is Sakraat or Khichdi. It gets this name from the khichdi dish, which is made in a very rich and elaborate manner on this day.Dahi-chuda with red pumpkin bhajiyas and til laddoos are made for breakfast, while in the evening, a special khichdi made of rice is relished along with papad, ghee and pickle.

PUNJAB Popular as Lohri, a festival celebrated one day prior to Makar Sankranti, Punjabis sing and dance on traditional songs around a huge bonfire in which the prasad made of five ingredients -til, gajak, jaggery, peanuts and popcorn are offered and shared with others. Along with winter savouries, the traditional dinner of makki-diroti and sarson-da-saag is served with a variety of pakoras and dahi bhalle. For desserts, a spread of rice kheer and others sweets, including kurmure aur phuliyan ke laddoo (made from puffed rice and jaggery) are served.

KARNATAKA Known as the Suggi festival in Karnataka, homemade sweets are exchanged with others.On the platter is ellu unde made from black sesame seeds, ellu bella made from white sesame seeds, fried groundnuts, dry coconut, jaggery, sugar candy moulded in various shapes known as sakkare acchu, and a piece of sugarcane. These sweets along with bananas, sugarcane, red berries, haldi-kumkum and small gift items useful in everyday lives are often exchanged among women in Karnataka.

Andhra Pradesh The traditional food for the festival here includes rice cooked with sesame seeds; appalu, a sweet prepared from jaggery and rice, dapplam, a stew using seasonal vegetables like drumsticks, pumpkin and ariselu, a sweet made from rice powder, jaggery and coconut.

Assam Called Magh Bihu or Bhogali Bihu, Makar Sankranti celebrations last for nearly a week. For sweets, til pitha is made with black sesame seeds, while ghila pithas are fried rice flour balls sweetened with jaggery.

West BengalL Celebrated as Poush Sankranti, the traditional Bengali sweet delicacies are made with freshly harvested paddy and khejurer gur (palm jag gery), which is available in winter months only. Pitha or pithe, a home-made sweet, has an outer layer made of rice or S wheat flour and a inner filling of different ingredients, mostly coconut or khoya. Most common delicacies for the festival are patishap ta pitha, puli pitha, doodh puli and numerous other varieties of pithas and payeshkheerrice pudding.

Rajasthan In Rajasthan, which sees the International Kite festival being organised celebrates the festival with gusto. Sweets include the dry, brittle sweet gajak made from sesame seeds, peanuts and jaggery, wheat laddoos or wheat kheer.Others include sutarfeni which is a popular Jaipur sweet prepared with fibres of white flour, and varieties of ghewar.

Gujarat Known as Uttarayan, Gujaratis use the grain from the new harvest to cook Khichdo, a mixture of grains and pulses of wheat, moong, beans, chickpeas and gram dal on this day.Another Gujarati speciality is Undhiyu, a spicy mix of winter vegetables is also savoured on this day. In sweets, traditional sweets made on this day are til laddoos or sesame and peanut chikki.

Tamil Nadu Known as Surya Pongal, this is the day the farmers harvest paddy after performing puja to the Sun God. Sarkarai Pongal is made from fresh rice which is cooked in milk, jaggery and moong dal in a new mud pot. The Pongal is offered to the Gods on a banana leaf, along with sugarcane, grain, sweet potatoes and then it is distributed to everyone.