By B.Priyadarshini

The first festival of the year 2020 is 'Makar Sankranti'. It is one of the most prominent Hindu festivals and is celebrated in different parts of the country with different names. According to the Hindu calendar, the festival marks the winter solstice and the first day of Sun's transit into Capricorn. Generally, people follow festivals based on the lunar cycle, while 'Makar Sankranti' is the one which is celebrated based on the solar cycle.

In Telangana, Sankranti is celebrated with much joy and people have their own way of celebrating it. In some districts, farmers pay a visit to their fields and build a hut with jowar plants and new cloths. It is called 'Pandavula Gudi'. They lit a lamp inside it, called as 'Lakshmi Deepam'. After this, they perform pujas to Goddess Lakshmi and Pancha Pandavas. Then, boil rice and milk in an earthen pot and allow it to overflow towards the North.

People believe that doing so would give them good rains and thereby will have good yield. After the puja, women carry the deepam in a basket which is decorated with a new sari and they believe that bringing the deepam home will bring goddess 'Lakshmi' to their homes. On the day of Sankranti, they will cook a dish with vegetables like brinjal, bengal gram, cucumber and beans. On the third day, people prepare non-veg recipes.

In some areas of Adilabad, people prefer to have boorelu made out of 'Sesame Seeds'. It is believed that consuming dishes cooked using sesame seeds is healthy for humans especially for children. They prepare chapatis made of wheat flour and sesame seed powder mixed with jaggery will be stuffed into it. On the day of Kanuma, farmers decorate their cattle and offer prayers to cows and bulls as they depend on them for different purposes.

In Nalgonda, tribals offer prayers to Lakshmi Devi and a goat will be sacrificed at the temple on the day; it will be distributed among them equally. Generally, there is no Bhogi and Kanuma for them, it is a one day festival. A day before Sankranti, small twigs of Indian Jujube trees, Gigantic Swallow Wort and a tiny piece of animal bone would be placed on the top of the houses and will also be sprinkled in their farm lands. People believe that doing so would give them a good harvest and would protect them from negative forces.

People of Warangal celebrate Sankranti with much pomp and one of the special attractions is the jatara at Veerabhadra Swamy temple in Kothakonda of Bheemadevarapally mandal in Warangal Urban district. Brahmostavams at Mallikarjuna Swamy temple at Inavolu village in Warangal Urban district will start on the first day of Sankranti.