Makar Sakranti

Makar Sankranti
Festive celebrations of Makar Sankranti
Also called	Magha Mela, Maghi
Observed by	Hindus
Type	religious, cultural
Significance	Festival of Harvest, welcome longer days, sun worship
Celebrations	Kite flying, bonfires, fairs, surya puja in river, feast, arts, dance, socialization
Date	almost always 14 January
2017 date	14 January
2018 date	14 January
Related to	Maghi (Sikhism), Maghe Sankranti, Shakrain, Pongal

Makar Sankranti (also known as Makara Sankranti or Maghi) refers both to a specific solar day in the Hindu calendar and a Hindu festival in reverence to deity Surya (sun) that is observed in January every year. It marks the first day of sun's transit into the Makara (Capricorn), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days.

Makar Sankranti is one of the few ancient Hindu festivals that has been observed according to solar cycles, while most festivals are set by the lunar cycle of the lunisolar Hindu calendar. Being a festival that celebrates the solar cycle, it almost always falls on the same Gregorian date every year (January 14), except in rare years when the date shifts by a day for that year, because of the complexity of earth-sun relative movement. The festivities associated with Makar Sankranti are known by various names such as Lohri by north Indian Hindus and Sikhs, Sukarat in central India, Bhogali Bihu by Assamese Hindus, and Pongal by Tamil and other south Indian Hindus.

Makar Sankranti is observed with social festivities such as colorful decorations, rural children going house to house, singing and asking for treats (or pocket money),melas (fair), dances, kite flying, bonfires and feast. The Magha Mela, according to Diana L. Eck – a professor at Harvard University specializing in Indology, is mentioned in the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata, thus placing this festival to be around 2,000 years old. Many go to sacred rivers or lakes and bathe with thanksgiving to the sun. Every twelve years, the Hindus observe Makar Sankranti with one of the world's largest mass pilgrimage, with an estimated 40 to 100 million people attending for the event. At this event, they say a prayer to the sun and bathe at the Prayaga confluence of the River Ganga and River Yamuna at the Kumbh Mela, a tradition attributed to Adi Shankara.

Makar Sankranti (Sanskrit: मकर सङ्क्रान्ति) is set by the solar cycle of the Hindu lunisolar calendar, and is observed almost always on 14 January, and signifies the arrival of longer days. Makar Sankranti falls in the Hindu calendar solar month of Makara, and lunar month of Magha. It marks the end of the month with winter solstice and the darkest night of the year, a month that is called Pausha in lunar system and Dhanu is solar system of Hindu time keeping methodology. The festival celebrates the first month with consistently longer days.