Makar Sankranti is one of the few solar festivals, marking the Sun's entry into Capricorn. Learn its astronomy and significance.
Most Hindu festivals follow the lunar calendar, but Makar Sankranti is one of the few timed by the Sun. It marks the moment the Sun enters the sidereal sign of Capricorn (Makara), a transition called Makar Sankranti, and it falls around 14 or 15 January each year.
Because it is solar, its date is remarkably stable in the common calendar, unlike lunar festivals that shift each year.
Sankranti marks the beginning of Uttarayana, the period when the Sun begins its apparent northward journey, traditionally regarded as auspicious and a time of increasing light and warmth. The lengthening days symbolise the movement from darkness toward light.
This northward turn was considered so sacred that, in the Mahabharata, Bhishma is said to have awaited it before leaving his body.
Makar Sankranti is celebrated across India under many names — Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Lohri the eve before in Punjab, Bihu in Assam, Uttarayan with kite-flying in Gujarat. Common threads include honouring the Sun, the harvest, sesame and jaggery sweets, and ritual bathing in sacred rivers.
As a festival of the Sun and the harvest, it expresses gratitude for warmth, light and the abundance of the land.
It marks the Sun's entry into Capricorn (Makara) and the start of Uttarayana, the auspicious northward journey of the Sun.
Makar Sankranti is a solar festival tied to the Sun's transit, so it falls around 14-15 January every year rather than moving with the Moon.
Uttarayana is the period of the Sun's apparent northward movement, traditionally regarded as auspicious and a time of growing light.
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