Makara Sankranti, An Auspicious Day

14 January was an auspicious day. At least, that is what we told ourselves when music blaring from the nearby Hindu temple filled our bedroom at 5:30 am on Saturday. It’s not the first time we have been awakened by the sounds of Hindi tunes. Our apartment may be upscale, new and modern, but it sits among the homes of many Indians for whom the term “globalization” has not yet found its way into their lexicon. We became part of the local Indian society again whether we wanted to or not.

Identifying auspicious times is a normal part of living here. Important events occur on auspicious days and times. One need only consult an advisor, astrologist or the Hindi calendar. A wedding invitation may invite guests to celebrate the nuptials scheduled to take place on Wednesday at the precise time of 6:47 PM.

Saturday was auspicious since it was a Sankranti day. This is when the sun passes from one sign of the rasi or zodiac to the next. The Sankranti of any month is considered auspicious as it signifies a fresh start. More importantly, Saturday was Makara Sankranti, when the sun passes through the winter solstice from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn. This is the only festival on the Indian calendar that is not celebrated on a fixed day of the lunar month.

Makar Sankranti marks the beginning of Uttarayan, the Sun's northward journey. The day and night on Makar Sankrant are of exactly equal hours. For Hindus all over the country this day is most auspicious.

As with many Indian festivals, this festival is celebrated with different names and customs in different parts of the country. To the east in Tamil Nadu the festival it is called Pongal. Up north in Punjab it is called Lohri. Where we live in the state of Karnataka, the festival is called Sankranti. Street vendors sell flowers and tall stalks of sugar cane. Yella-bella is a favorite sweet of the feast made from the raw, unrefined sugar of the cane, called jaggery, and til, which is sesame. Yell-bella and another holiday treat called bhel-puri are allegedly ubiquitous in households of the rich and poor alike on this day. We run in a different circle. Dinner at our house was pasta and sauce brought back from Italy followed by a nip of Limoncello for dessert.

We may be bit outside the mainstream of the holiday rituals, but we are at least keen observers and participants when we can. It is auspicious to wear the color yellow on Sankranti so Jay donned his yellow shirt as we walked the streets in our neighborhood. Even a pair of water buffalo that wandered the street leading to our apartment complex had their horns painted yellow and were thus engaged in the festival as well. Doorways in our neighborhood that just last month were adorned with rice flour etchings reading “Happy Xmas” had similar rice flour decorations announcing “Happy Pongal.”

We hope you all had a Happy Pongal or a Merry Makara Sankranti, and we hope it was auspicious for you as well.