Makar Sankranti is celebrated throughout India as a harvest festival. It is a way of giving thanks to the elements of nature that help man. This is the period when the winter recedes, paving the way for the summer. It is the time the farmers bring home their harvest. In the coastal regions, it is a harvest festival dedicated to Indra. In North India, a ritual bath in the river is important on this day. Khichiri is eaten and given away as charity, and People also distribute rice and lentils to the poor and needy. In Maharashtra, a special dish called tilgul, or laddoos made of jaggery and Sesame seed, the chief crop of the season, is popular.In Gujrat it is celebrated as the Kite flying day.

The Makar Sankranti festival marks the day when the sun begins its northward journey and enters the sign of Makar (the Capricorn) from the Tropic of Cancer.To Hindus, the Sun stands for knowledge, spiritual light and wisdom. Makar Sankranti signifies that we should turn away from the darkness of delusion in which we live, and begin to enjoy a new life with bright light within us to shine brighter and brighter. We should gradually begin to grow in purity, wisdom, and knowledge, even as the Sun does from the Day of Makar Sankranti.

Also, an episode from the great epic Mahabharata shows that people in early times marked the day as auspicious. Warrior-hero Bhishma Pitamah even after being wounded in the Mahabharata war lingered on till Uttarayan set in. Death on this day is set to bring Moksha or salvation for the deceased.

Makar Sankranti is also known as Khichadi or Til Sakranti in north India. The Magh Mela and the Gangasagar Mela held on Makar Sankranti and the devotees take a holy dip in Ganga & Ganga Sagar at various places.

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