Sankranti - The First Harvest Festival
<div style=' background:#FFFFFF;color:#000000;font-size:15px;font-family:Verdana;width:auto;padding:5px;max-height:100%;'><span><p>Sankranti is an important harvest festival honoring the majestic sun god – Surya. Sankranti is a tribute to the powerful energies of the sun, whose power and grace enables life on earth. This festival is celebrated across the length and breadth of the country with unbridled enthusiasm and gaiety. Farming communities come together with devotion and high spirits to reap the fruits of their hard labor, after withstanding harsh winters and other uncertainties.<br>Sankranti is a significant festival that marks the end of cold, dark winters and the beginning of a new dawn. This transition phase at this time of the year is observed with outward delight and relish, and an inward acknowledgement of new beginnings. Sankranti symbolizes hope and positivity, a graceful adieu to the old and an exuberant welcome to the new.<br>It is known by various names in India – as Makara Sankranti in most parts of the county, Lohri and Maghi in North, Bhogali Bihu in Assam, Poush Sankranti in West Bengal, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Kichidi Parv in Uttar Pradesh, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayani in Uttarakhand, Shishur Saenkraat in Kashmir, and Makar Sankramana in Karnataka.<br>According to Jyothish Shastra, or Indian astrology, the name ‘Sankranti’ represents the movement of the Sun from one constellation of the zodiac to the next, implying 12 ‘Sankranti’s in a year. Of these 12, Makara Sankranti is the most auspicious. This is one of the festivals that occurs in sync with the solar cycle, occurring on January 14th and 15th every year. This day announces the change in season, as the majestic Sun moves from Dakshinayana (South) to Uttarayana (North).</p><p><br>‘Sankranti literally means ‘movement’. If there are any new insights to share about Sankranti, it is the significance and deeper meaning of this ‘movement’. Sadhguru of Isha Foundation expounds that the whole system of life on Earth, nay this Universe, is a grand movement. At an individual level, our loved ones who came before us have moved on, and those after will also eventually move on. The movement of Earth creates seasons and stirs life. If Earth were to stay still, we would be a dead planet.<br></p><span></div><div style=' background:#FFFFFF;color:#000000;font-size:15px;font-family:Verdana;width:auto;padding:5px;max-height:100%;'><span><p>However, movement can happen only in the lap of stillness. We need to touch and experience this stillness, so as not to get lost in the movement. Sankranti is a time to remind ourselves about the planetary movement, and appreciate that our life is sustained and nourished by these changes. This is the time to pause and take in the stillness within and without.</p><p><br>Festivity means bright colors, new clothes, feasts, delicious sweets and savories. All traditional food items are prepared from the fresh harvest of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Among them, the one must-have sweet is the til-gud laddu – sesame and jaggery balls. Eating this nourishes the body and skin inside out, giving us the essential oils from sesame and iron from jaggery.<br><br></p><p>The other delectable delicacy is ‘Pongal’ (literally means overflowing) – a very traditional and tasty dish prepared in the south. This food item can be prepared as a sweet or as a spicy dish. It is a sattvic rice preparation that represents the harmony of purity and goodness in the right measure.<br>Ayurveda prescribes this as the best food that maintains the perfect balance of elements in the body. This creates the right condition for conducting religious and spiritual practices.<br><br></p><p>Talking about Sankranti is incomplete without mentioning the bonfire – Bhogi or Lohri. At the break of dawn (knowledge), people take puffed rice, dry twigs, old wood, unwanted clothing (ignorance and unproductive thoughts) and offer it into a bonfire (Shiva, the destroyer).<br></p><span></div><div style=' background:#FFFFFF;color:#000000;font-size:15px;font-family:Verdana;width:auto;padding:5px;max-height:100%;'><span><p>Later in the day, everybody indulges in the most awaited and popular activity - kite flying. The early morning blue skies are dotted with colorful “patang”s. It’s a treat to watch the kite waltzing in the high winds, free and unfettered. Kites are said to be an offering to the sky that holds us together. To me, it’s a magnificent show of unity of souls in the diversity of creation. One sky – so many colors.<br><br></p><p>Gujarat has the prestige of hosting the International Kite Festival every year. Hundreds of kite enthusiasts from around the country and outside participate in this competition with passion.<br><br></p><p>Incidentally, during the colonial rule of the British, people protested against the Simon Commission by flying thousands of kites with the words, “Go back, Simon”. A peaceful message is more powerful than war.<br><br></p><p>This Sankranti, teach your children the art of kite making. They are bound to learn so many principles of geometry, physics and other scientific concepts. Kite making is principles of aerodynamics in action.<br><br></p><p>Sankranti is the time to pay our respects to nature that stretches itself only to give. Harvest festivals are a time to acknowledge our bond with nature and the animals that assist us in our sustenance. Like the Sun and all the planetary movements, let our mind body and soul move from ignorance to knowledge.<br><br></p><p>We wish you a happy and prosperous Sankranti, bringing in abundance and peace!<br><br><br></p><span></div>
