Saturday, January 15, 2011

Wishing you all a Happy Makar Sankranti...


People of Karwar watch a sunset at the Tagore beach on the day of the Solistice - Makar Sankranti, also signifying the Harvest Season.
As they say in Karwar - "Tilgul ghaya God God Bolaa.." Loosely translated in English as "Take sweet, talk sweet" on this day.
Sankranti means to go from one place to another place (to change direction). It also means one meets another. The time when the sun changes direction from one constellation (of the zodiac) to another is known as Sankranti.

Transition of the Sun from Sagittarius (Dhanu) to Capricorn (Makar) during the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere (Uttarayana) is known as Makar sankranti. (more info here)

Makar Sankranti in Maharastra and Karnataka,  is also celebrated all over India and is known as Lohri in Punjab, Bihu in Asssam, Pongal in Tamilnadu, Khichiri in Uttar Pradesh, Sukarat in Madhya Pradesh, Pedda Panduga in Andhra Pradesh, etc.

Google once again surprised us with their new Google Doodle. On the day when nation celebrates Makar Sankranti, Google has painted kites and flying balloons on its search engine home page in India. Source


1 comment:

Leif Hagen said...

Looks like a tropical paradise! It's snowy and -10 degrees Celsius here right now!