West India (Gujarat)
Known as Uttarayan
Families spend the day on rooftops flying kites from early morning, with neighbours calling out to each other as kites are cut. Homes prepare undhiyu (a mixed winter vegetable dish), sesame and peanut brittle (chikki) and sesame laddoos. The celebrations often continue into the next day, known as Vasi Uttarayan. In the evening, paper lanterns are sometimes released into the sky.
Why it matters there: Kite flying welcomes the Sun's northward turn and gets people out into the winter sunshine. It is one of the biggest community celebrations of the Gujarati year.
South India (Tamil Nadu)
Known as Thai Pongal
Pongal is a four-day festival. On Bhogi, old items are discarded and homes are cleaned. On Thai Pongal, new rice is cooked with milk and jaggery in a new pot, usually outdoors facing the Sun, and families call out 'Pongalo Pongal' when it boils over. On Mattu Pongal, cattle are bathed, their horns painted and decorated, and on Kaanum Pongal families visit relatives and go on outings.
Why it matters there: The overflowing pot symbolises abundance from the new harvest. The festival thanks the Sun, the land and the cattle that help the farmer.
North India (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh)
Known as Lohri and Maghi
Lohri is celebrated on the evening before Sankranti with a bonfire, around which families offer sesame, popcorn, peanuts, gajak and rewri, sing folk songs and dance bhangra and giddha. It is especially joyous in homes with a new bride or newborn child. The next day, Maghi, people take a dip in rivers or gurudwara sarovars and eat kheer and khichdi.
Why it matters there: The bonfire marks the end of the coldest stretch of winter and gives thanks for the rabi crop. Maghi is also an important day in the Sikh calendar.
North-East India (Assam)
Known as Magh Bihu (Bhogali Bihu)
On the eve, called Uruka, communities build temporary huts (bhelaghar) and bonfire structures (meji) from bamboo and hay, and share a large community feast. At dawn the meji is lit, prayers are offered, and pithas such as til pitha and laru made of coconut and sesame are eaten. Traditional games are held through the day.
Why it matters there: Bhogali means feasting: it celebrates a full granary after the harvest. The meji fire is offered to the god of fire (Agni) with thanks.
South India (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana)
Known as Sankranti (Bhogi, Sankranti, Kanuma)
On Bhogi, bonfires are lit at dawn and small children are showered with a mix of jujube fruit (regi pallu), flowers and coins (bhogi pallu). On Sankranti, large rangoli designs (muggulu) are drawn in front of homes, decorated bulls (gangireddulu) are taken from house to house, and sweets like ariselu are made. Kanuma, the next day, honours cattle.
Why it matters there: It is the biggest family festival of the Telugu year, when people return to their native villages to celebrate the harvest together.
South and West India (Karnataka, Maharashtra)
Known as Ellu-bella (Karnataka), Til-gul (Maharashtra)
In Karnataka, a mix of sesame, jaggery, dry coconut, roasted gram and peanuts (ellu-bella) is exchanged with friends and neighbours, often with sugar figurines, saying 'eat sesame and jaggery and speak sweetly'. In Maharashtra, til-gul laddoos are given with the words 'Tilgul ghya, goad goad bola'. Married women hold haldi-kunku gatherings, and many people wear black clothes, which is otherwise uncommon at festivals, because black holds warmth in winter.
Why it matters there: The exchange is a gesture of reconciliation: whatever happened in the past year, start again on sweet terms.
East and North India (Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal)
Known as Khichdi, Tila Sakraat, Poush Sankranti
In Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, people bathe early, offer sesame and rice, and eat curd with beaten rice (dahi-chura), tilkut and khichdi; at the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur devotees offer khichdi. At Prayagraj, the Magh Mela at the Sangam sees one of its main bathing days. In Bengal, pilgrims gather at Sagar Island for the Ganga Sagar Mela, and homes make rice-flour sweets (pithe) with new jaggery.
Why it matters there: Bathing in the Ganga and her confluences is believed to be especially purifying on this day, and offering new rice and sesame thanks the harvest.
