Makar Sankaranti/Basant Panchami

Kites

Makar Sankranti is a festival of India that comes on January 14 every year. Sankranti is spelled and pronounced as Sankranthi in South India. Hence it is called Makar Sankranthi in South India. The Hub pages also spell it as Makar Sankranthi.Makar is a rashi (Zodiac) and Sankranti means transition. Hence, Makar Sankranti means transition of the Sun from the zodiac Makar. People go to Ganga sagar near Kolkata, West Bengal, to take a bath on Makar Sankranti. Kumbh Mela also starts on the day of Makar Sankranti and people go for bath in holy Ganga. Large numbers of people are expected to assemble in Haridwar this year for Kumbh bath on January 14, 2010, the day of Makar Sankranti. Kumbh Mela will start from Makar Sankranti at Haridwar.

Makar Sankranti is also a kite flying festival or kite festival in many parts of India. Gujarat and Jaipur in Rajasthan is famous for their kite festivals. Jaipur organizes international kite festival every year. Makar Sankranti is a popular word in Rajasthan where as Utran (derived from Uttarayan in Sanskrit language) is in Gujarat. Basant Panchami is also popular for kite festival in some places of India. Kolkata celebrates kite festival on Vishwakarma puja but not on Makar Sankranti.Kite is called Patang in Hindi language. Hence the festival is also referred as Patang utsav in India. Patang is also called guddi in many places in northern India. Special type of thread is used to fly kites and that is called Manjha.