Makar Sankranti 2018: Interesting facts about India's Harvest Festival and Puja timings
New Delhi : Makar Sankranti marks the beginning of Harvest season, a festival celebrated by Hindus all across the country. The festival is celebrated on 14th January and is possibly the only Indian festival whose date always falls on the same day each year with just a few exceptions. The day is considered auspicious but there are some facts about the festival which are important to know.
Here are the some of Makar Sankranti Interesting Facts:
The festival is celebrated on the same day every year in india that follows the solar calendar. This is the reason why it falls on the exact same date year after year as per Georgian calendar. For the records, it is celebrated on 14th of January each year.
The festival has different names from North to South. We say, Makar Sankranti while in Tamil Nadu, it is Pongal, Punjab calls it Lohri, Gujarat says Uttarayan and so on. The day marks the end of winters and beginning of spring. Both day and night are long.
As per Hindu Solar Calendar, the festival is celebrated on 1st Magh (for those who are not aware of Magh, it is the name of a month as per Hindu calendar).
The importance of flying kites on Makar Sankranti is mainly started from Gujarat. The science behind it says that, Sun restores its capacity after a long winter and cleanses our bodies off infections and germs while we celebrate it by flying kites.
Makar Sankranti generally marks the beginning of the Kumbh Mela in Uttar Pradesh while in South India, in Kerala, one of the most austere and difficult pilgrimages of Shabrimala ends on this auspicious day.
There is a saying “til gul kha god god bola” meaning have a sesame sweet and say sweet words. This is because back in the times of legend, Lord Sun visited his enemy son Shani and forgave him.
Makar Sankranti denotes the transition of sun from the zodiac Sagittarius to Capricorn. Makar is the Sanskrit word for Capricorn while Sankranti is the Sanskrit word for transition.
Makar Sankranti 2018 Puja timings
The muhurat starts at 2am and ends at 5.41. And the auspicious time starts from 2am to 2.24am.
