10 Hidden Facts About Makar Sankranti
By: Mohit Surati
Tags: Makar Sankranti, Facts, Happy Makar Sankranti, Kiteflying, Uttarayan

Hello.! Good Morning Friends.! Happy Weekend to all of you.!

The first festival of the year is upon us and you all must be wondering about how to make it special isn’t it?

Many of you would have made the plan for the celebration. However, there will be very few who knows the real meaning of Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan.

For millennials, Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan is all about Kite Flying. But, if you would dive deep into this subject, you will find plenty of hidden gems.!

Are you worried that you don’t anything about Makar Sankranti?

Do you want to enhance your knowledge base?

Then, fasten your seatbelts and get ready to ride on a rollercoaster with me as I take you through the history and mystery of Makar Sankranti.

So, let’s start the show, right here, right now.!

THE HIDDEN GEMS OF MAKAR SANKRANTI

1. Makar Sankranti is perhaps one of the few Hindu festivals that takes its basis on the Solar Cycle. While most of our festival takes its basis on the Lunar Cycle.

2. The second interesting facts about Makar Sankranti is that it always takes place on JAN 14. So, it is the only festival of Hindu that matches with the Gregorian Calendar.

Note: In some years, the Hindu date of Makar Sankranti shifts to 15th or 16th. As in this year, we will have Makar Sankranti on 15th JAN 2020.

3. The other festivals that clashes with Makar Sankranti are Lohri, Pongal and Bihu (all of them are harvesting festivals) will always be celebrated on 13th and 14th JAN every year. The reason being, they’re not based on Hindu Calendar.

4. Approximately 1500 years ago, when Aryabhatta was alive, Makar Sankranti and Uttrayan coincided.

However, in reality, both are celebrated on different days. While Makar Sankranti is celebrated JAN 14, the sun begins its Uttrayan on 21st DEC. So, Uttrayan happens on DHANU SANKRANTI not MAKAR SANKRANTI.

This is one of the rarest facts that you have ever read.!!!!

5. Makara Sankranti also marks the end of Malmass and the movement of Sun to Makar Rashi. In the North the festival is called LOHRI, In the East, it is celebrated as BIHU and in the South, it’s called PONGAL.

INCREDIBLE INDIA.!!!!

6. On the day of Makar Sankranti, the SUN Rays start coming from the NORTH (Uttaryan — It BEGINS on 21st DEC and Sun reaches the NORTH on 14th JAN — A Cycle Of 3 Weeks). So, as per Hindu Mythology, good forces rise and bad forces are emitted on this day,

7. Every 12 years, Makar Sankranti is celebrated with one of the largest Hindus Festival — THE MAHA KUMBH.

8. This is the fact that will raise your eye-brows, for sure. The reason behind Kite Flying on this day is that during Winter the human body gets infected by lots of diseases.

So, to overcome this, KITE FLYING was started. The people remain in the sun for a whole day and enjoys the KITE FLYING while their body gets receives lots of SUN RAYS and gets cleaned up.

So, next time you for a SUN BATH on the beach, think about the Hindu SUN BATH as well.

9. Over ages, the date of Makar Sankranti has changed. A 1000 years ago, this festival was celebrated on 31st of December.

10. Last but not least is that Makar Sankranti is also the festival to eat Til (Sesame) and Gud (Jaggery). As there is famous saying in MARATHI that, “Til-gul ghya ani gud gud bola” which means Eat Sesame seed and Jaggery and speak sweet words.

I hope you had a wonderful time reading this blog. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment. Wishing u all a very Happy MAKAR SANKRANTI in advance.!! Enjoy the festival of KITE FLYING and HARVESTING with your loved ones.!!!

If you’re someone who is interested in Cricket, Read This Blog written by me: https://medium.com/@mysurati/2019-a-year-of-domination-for-team-india-e29a418e069f