Makar Sankranti
Makar Sankranti or Uttarayan or Maghi or simply Sankranti , is a festival day in the Hindu calendar , dedicated to the deity Surya (sun). It is observed each year the day Sun enters the Capricorn zodiac which corresponds with the month of January as per the Gregorian calendar . [3] [4] [5] It marks the first day of the sun's transit into Makara rashi ( Capricorn ), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days. [3] [6] Makar Sankranti [7] is one of the few ancient Indian festivals that has been observed according to solar cycles , while most festivals are set by the lunar cycle of the lunisolar (चंद्र – सौर) Hindu calendar . [6] Being a festival that celebrates the solar cycle, it almost always falls on the same Gregorian date every year (January 14), [4] except in some years when the date shifts by a day for that ...