Sankranthi Celebrations
Sankranti, also called ‘Makara Sankranti’ is celebrated to mark the beginning of the harvesting season in India. It is celebrated almost all over the country, especially in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. In Andhra Pradesh, the Makara Sankranti is celebrated for three days.
The typical celebration of the ‘Makara Sankranti’ in Andhra Pradesh takes place for three days. All houses are decorated. Guests and in-laws are invited and sweets are given out to all. People dress themselves up as characters from mythology. The first day, that is Bhogi Panduga, Bhogi, people discard old and derelict things and concentrate on new things causing change or transformation. At dawn, people light a bonfire with logs of wood, other solid fuels and wooden furniture at home that are no longer useful. The disposal of derelict things is where all old habits, vices, attachment to relations and material things are sacrificed in the sacrificial fire of the knowledge of Rudra, known as the “Rudra Gita Jnana Yajna”. It represents the realisation, transformation and purification of the soul by imbibing and inculcating various divine virtues. All kids and elders will participate in this till the sun rises. After that everyone will freshen up and all will go to cock fights. Which is a tradition in Andhra Pradesh from long ago. The second day, Pedda Panduga Sankranthi, the day starts with Haridas coming with ox and singing Sankranthi songs. People wear new clothes and pray to god. They also draw rangoli or muggu in front of homes by decorated with flowers and dung which is called as Gobbemma. The same routine follows with cock fights till evening and participates in family reunions.
Uttarayana Punnyakalam period begins with Sankranthi and the next six months are considered highly auspicious. In Andhra Pradesh on the Sankranthi day, ‘Pongali’, a dish prepared from the recent rice harvest is offered to Sankranthi Lakshmi. On the third day, the Kanuma Panduga is dedicated to farmers and will dedicate their harvestings to god.
While in Tamilnadu, Sankranti is celebrated as Pongal, the harvest festival, on the first day of the tenth month of the lunar calendar and is also known as Thai thirunaal (pronunciation rhymes with the word thy), about three weeks from the start of Uttarayana – the northern movement around the 22 of December. After toiling through the cultivating season, the fresh produce – primarily paddy, sugarcane, turmeric and ginger are harvested and this is a thanksgiving to the Sun God. The word Pongal means boiling over. It also means exuberance of all goodness.