Makar Sankranti

When it falls

Sun’s entry into Makara (Capricorn) — a solar festival

• 2027 · Friday, 15 January 2027

Significance

Makar Sankranti is the day the Sun enters the sidereal sign of Makara (Capricorn) and begins its northward journey, Uttarayana. It is the great harvest-and-turning festival, kept under many names — Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Lohri the night before in Punjab, Magh Bihu in Assam, Uttarayana in Gujarat with its skies full of kites.

After the long nights of winter, it marks the lengthening of the days — the sun "coming back" — and so it is a festival of gratitude for the harvest and optimism for the turn toward light.

How it’s observed

Sesame and jaggery sweets (til-gul) are shared with the words "take this sweet and speak sweetly"; rivers draw pilgrims for a holy dip; Gujarat’s skies fill with kites; Tamil homes boil the first rice of the harvest until it overflows the pot — Pongal! — as a sign of abundance.

The timing, explained

Almost every Hindu festival follows the moon, which is why their Western dates wander by weeks. Makar Sankranti is the great exception: it is solar, fixed to the moment Surya crosses into Capricorn (a Sankranti), so it lands on roughly the same date — 14 or 15 January — every year. Slowly, over centuries, the ayanamsa (the sidereal correction) nudges even this date later.

Keep reading

• What is Sankranti?
• What is Ayanamsa?
• See it on the calendar
• All festivals