Makar Sankranti is a Hindu Festival dedicated to the Sun God or Lord Surya. This festival is celebrated every year in January which marks the first day of the sun’s transit into Makara Rashi (Capricorn),.
This year, the festival is celebrated with great joy in Mauritius on Thursday, 14 Jan 2021.
Makara Sankranti is significant for spiritual practices and it is believed that taking a dip in holy rivers on Sankranti day result in merit or absolution of past sins. It is also believed that devotees who worship Lord Surya (Sun God) on Sankranti are blessed with success and prosperity.
The MBC has produced a nice short documentary on the festival which is worth watching:
Special Dish on that day: Khichdi
Do you know why Khichdi is made on Makar Sankranti?
Makar Sankranti is a Harvest Festival.
As the new rice is harvested, it is cooked with new potatoes, winter vegetables like peas, cauliflower and dals to celebrate the harvest.
Because the new rice is sticky when cooked, it becomes a Khichdi! Such is the importance of this Khichdi that it is distributed as Prasad in temples – freely distributed to one and all
Kharmass Ends at 07.00 AM on 14th January 2021.
Sun will leave sagittarius sign to transit to capricorn (Makar).
Sun will enter capricorn (Makar Rashi) at 07.00 AM on 14th Jan 2021.
Surya will move from tropic of cancer to tropic of capricorn, moving to the northern hemisphere of the earth.
Sankranti means transit. There are 12 sankrantis in total. As soon as Sun enters capricorn, it is Sankranti.
Why 14 Jan? As per Vedic Astrology, duration of a day is from one sunrise to the next sunrise. This is the basic mathematical calculation as per hindu calendar or panchang.
Taking from Sunrise point, Sankranti will be on 14th Jan.
NOTE: MAKAR SANKRANTI WAS NEVER THE HINDU NEW YEAR. IT IS THE TRANSIT OF SURYA FROM ONE HOROSCOPE TO ANOTHER.
WHEN SURYA TAKES MORE THAN 1 MONTH TO TRANSIT A HOROSCOPE, IT IS KNOWN AS KHARMASS.
How to Celebrate:
1. Get up early in the morning, before sunrise, have bath and be ready with water & flowers for sunrise. Worship the rising Sun, by offering water, flowers with both hands and then pray with folded hands by chanting Gayatri Mantra. Pray for knowledge, wisdom and enlightenment to rise in the similar way to greater heights.
2. Do tarpan (give water) for your ancestors. Offer water to ancestors while praying for their blessings. Resolve to redeem the pledges and pride of your forefathers.
3. Have a special session of Meditation, wherein you bring about awareness of the self – effulgent subjective divinity. Affirm the greatest importance of your spiritual goal very clearly and pray to God to bless you with the capacity to constantly revel in your true self.
4. Prepare laddoos or other sweets of Til (Gâteau Zinzli) and Gur. Offer them to Surya Narayan first then your friends and relatives. See to it that your ‘Well-being Prayer for all’ gets manifested in action and deeds.
5. Have the lunch of Khichiri. Offer as mahaprasad first to your prayer altar. This stands for inculcating simplicity in your life and habits.
6. Give donation on this day to someone who truly deserves it.
7. Chant Om Grinihi Suryaaya Namaha, Read Surya Upanishad, Gayatri shaap vimochan, sahastranaam etc.