Sankranti usually “makar sankranti" is a hindu religious festival
celebrated in almost all parts of countires like India, Nepal and Bangladesh in
many cultural tradition’s, in India it is celebrated in all the states from
north to south and east to west.it is also know as harvest festival and “SankrantiFestival “ is observed every year in the month of January falls on 14th
or 15th .
Sankranti festival is also known for “ colourful flying kites”
as a youngster of this generation, I only know that sankranti festival is meant
for flying kites and wearing new clothes and having yummy!! Sweets and finally
praying god, this is the kind of situation of every individual of this
generation there is no surprise in that. So, let me be straight to the point having
every festival is having great culture, tradition and customary beliefs and the
same is applicable to makar sankranti also.
History and origin of sankranti festival
The information regarding sankranti festival is not originated
from the recent past; it’s been there since olden days. The origin of sankranti
festival is closely associated with the sun (god of Vishnu) transition because
this festival is celebrated when the sun moves from dakshinayan (south) to
uttharayan (north) hemisphere, in its celestial path and there by enters into
makar rasi (Capricorn) from the tropic of cancer this is how the name of makr sankranti is evolved.
Unlike all the festival the speciality of the festival is
that the date of festival is already fixed i.e., January 14th or 15th
according to Hindu solar calendar, during this day auspicious ritualistic
ceremonies are performed by hindu families and this festival is known for
transition into holy phase.
Generally sankranti is celebrated when the sun enter into
Capricorn from Sagittarius that is sun transition from one zodiac sign to
another but there are 12 zodiac signs in Hindu customary tradition so sun
transmit for every month but all that are not considered . The point to be
noted that on the day of makar sankranti the day and night are measured to be
equal from then the days will be longer and warmer.
There is a strong belief that death on this day may bring
moksha or salvation to the deceased.
Celebration of Makar Sankranti festival in Telangana and Andhra pradersh
As this festival is celebrated in many states so it has its
own rituals in every part of states.
The sankranti is also celebrated in the two Telugu speaking
states Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, it is a 4 days long festival by claiming
its own significance's of each day and the days are classified as:
Day 1 – BHOGI
Day 2 – MAKAR SANKRANTI
Day 3 – KANUMA
Day 4 – MUKKANUMA
Day 1 – BHOGI
The preceding day of sankranti is bhogi , on this day
people discard the old things as it is a transition into new period . At the dawn,
people lit a fire with the solid fuels and wooden furniture that is no longer in
use, the sign of this act is sacrifices all the old habits, beliefs and
attachments in the presence of god of fire.
In Hindus family the children usually less than 3 years old
are showered with Indian fruit “Regi Pandlu “ in Telugu in order to protect the
children from evil eye .
Landlords offer gifts to the workers in the form of clothes;
money food and sweets are distributed to every one to spread sweet of
happiness.
Day 2 – MAKAR SANKRANTI
During this day everyone wakes in the early morning and
starts with their holy bath and wear new cloths and perform traditional
offerings to ancestors and pray god.the women decorates the house as well as
ground (entrance of house) by drawing beautiful patterns (muggu) on the ground
“rangoli” in telugu and it is decorated with flowers and a hand pressed piles
of cow dung called “gobbemma”.
On this day everyone in the family are reunion to share
their happiness with all the members in family especially siblings.
Day 3 – KANUMA
The day after makar sankranti is kanuma this day is
specially associated with farmers on
this day every farmer pray and showcase their cattle with honour .The women in
the family feeds the cattle to share love and affection towards animals .in
general this is a Thank giving day to cattle.
Day 4 - MUKKANUMA
Finally , the last day of sankranti is mukkanuma and farmers
offer prayers to soil, rain and fire for helping them to harvest and some even
offer gifts to goddess ( probably this will be animals).
The celebration of this day is mostly seen in coastal Andhra
where all the members of family reunion to have have some fun filled activities,
these activities mostly include cock fighting (kodi pandalu ) , bullock/Ox
racing , kite flying .
On this occasion every city and town seen with the
flying-kites and sky seems to be color full, the craziest part is they enjoy by
cutting neighbor’s kites, funny right?
It is also noted that in the early hours of sankranti
festival “Haridas” the servant of lord Vishnu is seen by singing songs he
visits every house and offer blessings.
This is why Makar Sankranti is having such a great
significance to celebrate among all the parts of India.