Sankranti (Sun’s sign change)
Sankranti is the moment the Sun moves from one sidereal zodiac sign into the next. There are 12 a year. Makar Sankranti in mid-January and Mesha Sankranti in mid-April are the most widely celebrated.
Also known as: Sankranthi, Sankramana, Surya Sankranti
The Sun takes about a month to cross each sign, so a Sankranti comes roughly every 30 days. Each is named after the sign entered: Mesha Sankranti for Aries, Makar Sankranti for Capricorn, and so on. In the solar calendars of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Punjab, each Sankranti begins a new month.
Makar Sankranti marks the traditional start of Uttarayana and is celebrated as Pongal, Uttarayan and Magh Bihu, with Lohri the night before. Mesha Sankranti is the solar new year in many regions: Vaisakhi, Puthandu, Vishu, Pohela Boishakh and Bohag Bihu. Bathing, charity and prayer are traditional in the punya kaal around the moment of Sankranti.
Makar Sankranti is not the winter solstice. Because the panchang uses the sidereal zodiac, the date slowly drifts later, about one day every 70 years or so, which is why it now often falls on 15 January rather than 14. When the moment comes after sunset, many panchangs move the punya kaal to the next day; our Panchang does this for Makar Sankranti.