The Transit of the Sun and Festivity
January, the beginning of festivals in India, is the time of the year when we kickstart the year with celebrations and rituals that essentially mirror the life of a farmer and agriculture. The symbolic aspect of the fire being lit with logs of wood to the power of Lord Agni, the god of fire, as people dance around it, sing songs, and offer food, recreates the life of the past. The festival marks harvest time, the fading of bleak winter, and the advent of sunny days. One often forgets that these sustainable practices have been followed for generations. The farmer burns crop stubble during this time to prepare the field for the next sowing season. The fire god is worshipped on this day, for fire brings warmth to otherwise cold and wintry days. People gather around the bonfire as a part of their social networking by greeting each other and reinforcing the harmony between nature and mankind as they offer food, sweets, and firewood as Thanksgiving.
In particular, I am reminded of my Hindi teacher in school, who would, without fail, ensure that in January, we were assigned the task of writing about Lohri. Every year in high school, he would narrate to us the story of legendary Dulla Bhatti, the Robin Hood comparison hero, who rescued girls from being sold into slavery by ensuring that they were married off with dignity. He was known to have offered jaggery and sesame (gur and til) as dowry. Sesame seeds, when toasted, make such ideal winter food that one craves this during winter. The jaggery adds a sweet flavour to the delicacies made during this time. Down South, we have sweet pongal made out of jaggery and offered to people. It is the fire that transforms this raw food into the delicacies that we savour. What a timeless bond with nature that mankind enjoys during these festivals. While Dulla Bhatti’s story about his rebellion towards taxation as imposed by the Mughals recreated history for us, it was the lines that the Hindi teacher recited, those days that immortalised this legend in our lives. Just a few lines that he sang, without looking at our faces but staring at the classroom walls, would make us look at him with awe. The start of Uttarayan, or the movement of the Sun towards the North, is what Bhishma patiently waited for to end his journey on earth. Considered an auspicious time, January 14 is the day that witnesses the transition of the Sun into the zodiac sign of Capricorn and brings together communities in the country. Lohri in Punjab, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Poush Sankranti in West Bengal, and Magh Bihu in Assam to Makara Sankranti in Karnataka, it is rice, jaggery, lentils, sesame, coconut, and milk that is offered to the gods. As we welcome the Sun into our lives, wishing each of us a Happy Sankranti, as we wish each other abundance, prosperity, and a time to offer gratitude to life!
