Saturday, January 13, 2007

Dheel De Dheel De De Re Bhaiyaa.... :)

Makar Sankrati... Festival of exchanging sweets and flying kites... :)

According to lot of information collected from some frnds nd family members... herez some information abt the significance of ths beatiful nd colourful festival.. :)

Ths festival of Makar Sankrant traditionally coincides with the beginning of the Sun's northward journey (the UTTARAYAN)... whn it enters the sign of Makar (the CAPRICORN). Its is celebrated in the month of Magh saying farewell to winter.

It falls on the 14th of January every year according to the Solar Calendar. Ths day has a v. spl. significance .. coz the day nd night on Makar Sankrant r of exactly of equal hrs.

According to the sayings.. Ths day is celebrated as a festival right from the times of the Aryans and is looked upon as the most auspicious day by the Hindus.

The evidence of ths festival being lucky is found in our gr8 epic Mahabharat.... wherein it is told tht the great warrior-hero, Bhishma Pitamaha even after being wounded and lying on the bed of arrows.... lingered on till Uttarayan set in.... to breathe his last. It is believed tht the person who dies on ths auspicious day of Sankrant escapes the cycle of birth and re-birth nd tht his soul mingles with the Almighty.

Ths festival is celebrated differently in different parts of d country... yet the use of Til tht is sesame is found everywhere. Til (sesame seed) contain lot of oil nd they therefore hav a quality of softness in them. Therefore.... firstly the use of til in sweets is good for health and secondly being soft their exchange means exchange of love and tender feelings.... :)

In Maharashtra.... on the Sankranti day ppl exchange multi-coloured tilguds made from til (sesame seeds) nd sugar and til-laddus made from til and Gud (jaggery). Til-polis r offered 4 lunch nd these r specialities of Maharashtra.

While exchanging tilguls as tokens of goodwill.... ppl greet each other saying - "til-gul ghya... god god bola" meaning "accept these tilguls and speak sweet words".... Good one naa. M gonna hav loads of tilguls tommorrow in Train and office... :) The under-lying thot in the exchange of tilguls.... is to forget the past ill-feelings nd grudges nd resolve to speak sweetly and remain friends.

So... if u wanna make up with ny frnd whom u hav hurt or u r hurt coz of him/her.. jst call up on ths auspicious day... nd make up ur frndship once again with exchanging sweets nd smiles.. :)

Ths is also a special day for the women in Maharashtra... whn married women are invited 4 a get-together called "Haldi-Kumkoo" and given gifts of any utensil, which the woman of the house purchases on tht day.
Aha... Now comes the turn of Gujarat.... Aapnuu Gujarat... In Gujarat... Sankrant is observed more or less in the same manner as in Maharashtra.... but with a difference tht in Gujarat... ther is a custom of giving gifts to relatives.... And also giving daan to the needy nd offering chara to Cow... The elders in the family give gifts to the younger members of the family. Ths festival thus help the maintenance of social relationships within the family, caste and community.

In Gujarat.. An International Kite Flying Festival is held where no. of ppl gather for flying kites nd grand competition is held here... Also, ther in Gujarat in cities like Surat nd Ahmedabad, ppl hav off on 13th nd 14th and every family member gather on their terraces nd rooftops for flying kites, breakfast, lunch, snacks everythng on the terrace.. nd loud music... wow jst wonderful... flying kites, cutting each others kites, aha kya baat hai... :)
Kite flying is also an art... right from selecting a good quality kite, tying kanni, selecting one of the best Maanjha (string) rolled ig Firkii... how to start flying it slowly nd thn taking it to the height nd whn its made still in the air nd thn trying to cut other ppls kite... its all abt having good experience in it... wah wah.. its really amazing.. nd one jst enjoys.... yaa one thng one has to keep in mind is tht sometimes coz of tht strong strings, ther r chances of getting cuts on the fingers nd yes.. one has to take most care of the birds as wel.
Yes.... In South too.. Sankrant is known by the name of PONGAL... which takes its name from the surging of rice boiled in a pot of milk. Its very popular particularly amongst farmers.... Rice and pulses cooked together in ghee nd milk is offered to the family deity... after the puja. In essence in the South this Sankrant is a Puja 4 the Sun God.

In U.P..... Sankrant is called KICHERI. Having bath on ths day is regarded as most imp. Large no. of ppl. r seen bathing in the Sangam at Prayagraj... wher the rivers Ganga, Jamuna nd Saraswathi flow together.... Every year Kumbh Mela is held for full one month.

Ths festival is celebrated in other parts of country too nd have their own significance for it. Thus we see tht ths festival occupies a significant place in the cultural history of our country nd symbolises the victory of ORDER over CHAOS nd of Love over Hate.... :)

So... here m signing off... Happy Makar Sankranti to u all... Hav a nice day... njoi Kite Flying... c ya... :)

9 comments:

Prakash Venkat said...

Happy Sankranthi. How were those til food items :) Yes Uttarayana is a very auspicious time as sun moves towards the north. Lots of good cermonies are performed in uttarayana. You have captured well abt most parts of the country.

In andhra pradesh the season begins with bhogi. The night before we have bhogi Manta (Bhoghi Fire) symbolising the destruction of evil . Early in the morning all the houses are well decorated with rangoli infront of their houses. It is for welcoming godess lakshmi. There is also a tradition called 'Gobbemma' (Its a tetrahydran shape made out of cow dung ) and is placed in the middle of rangoli.
Most girls wear a traditional langaoni (Half saree) on this day. It is celebrated more traditionally in villages as they experience the harvest season. The final day is called 'kanuma' . I guess I forgot its significance :)

Oops I ended up writing a post itself ..... Kite flying in itself an art , making manja , keenchkhat VS Dheel , short VS Long kanna ..... Last year I tried flying kites .... I guess I am missing all of them ...

Your post reminded me of all those ... I infact forgot that it is Pongal time :)

Anonymous said...

hii!!!
we both have the same template :) :)
i came in here thru the Caz site itself!

I loved reading about Sankranthi! i didnt know much about it, and so i enjoyed reading it!

Happy Sankranthi to U too!

and Happy Blogging!!

Anonymous said...

Nice post Urvi..u forgot about Lohri :( which is celebrated in Punjab.

So, enjoyed tilguls?? send me some na :)

fursat said...

Amazing post!! I knew some facts but not all and none in such detail. You are toh better than Google...lol. We had til-ke revaris here in Gurudware, now I know why :D

I don't know how to fly kites but know how to capture them after they are cut...lol.

Thanks for all the info :-)

fursat said...

Happy Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Lohri to you too :D

Urvi said...

@PV... Thnx for ths detailed information.. :)

Kite flying.. i jst love it..

And yes.. its too late.. but Happy Pongal.. :)

Urvi said...

@shammu.. hi.. welcome to my blog :)

Urvi said...

@mehak.. thnks mehak 4 liking the post..:)

Sorry.. i didnt knew nythng abt lohri.. :(

yes yes.. njoyed loads of tilguls.. :)

I wish if i cld send some.. :(

Urvi said...

@ricky... Thnks..:)

revaris.. wow..

And yes.. capturing kites is a total fun.. u knw all our society's kids asked me to keep a watch tht who captires more kites..nd thn to give some gift for the same..hehehe

Njoyed a lot..:)