Sankranti is one amazing festival, no? 🙂 Truly demonstrating the unity in diversity by being celebrated in almost all over India, even in some South Asian countries too 🙂 Read wiki link here to know more.
For us, Sankranti, the harvest festival also signifies ‘Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya‘ (From darkness to light) since the Sun moves closer to the Earth spreading more light across.
We celebrate Sankranti by distributing Ellhu-bella (translating as sesame seeds-jaggery but actually a mixture of sesame seeds, jaggery, dry coconut, roasted gram and roasted groundnuts), Sakkare Acchu (kind of sugar candy), banana and sugarcane among friends and family.
Sakkare Acchu are made by making sugar syrup and pouring the same in moulds of various shapes and sizes. The one you see above is shaped like a puja mantap.
The day begins with a simple puja and then exchanging Ellhu-bella with everyone at home by saying “Ellhu-bella tindu olhe mathanaadi” (Eat sesame-jaggery and talk sweet :P) Sweet Pongal is offered to the deity and then devoured upon 😉 We compulsorily cook sweet pumpkin, groundnuts, yam and avarekai (Val beans, a vegetable people of Karnataka gorge upon 😉 )
Happy Sankranti once again people. Please do let me know how you celebrate the festival.
In Hyderabad, flying kites is very very common and so is cutting each other’s kites 😛 A tradition which we have come to enjoy and cannot imagine Sankranti without 😉 And so, we are now off to a friend’s house for lunch and kite-flying.
Have fun all of you and may we really move from darkness to a more brighter future 🙂
you remind me of Gujarat..
its funny how our cultures just seem to mix and match
Gujaratis fly kites, maharashtrians give til-gud and says ’til gud kha ani god god bola’ eat til gud and speak sweetly
Its an awesome festival na!
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Awww so many similarities 🙂
It definitely is 🙂
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I agree. So many different versions. And yet moving to a common end.
And in Delhi/Punjab there is lodhi celebrated. Kite flying is common there as well.
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🙂
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I jus love those sugar candies… pick up atleast a handful in jayanagar! N thes epeop atre so sweet tht they don even charge u for it na
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Oh is it? We usually make them at home; actually Amma does and I get the parcel 😛
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N haaaapie pongal 🙂
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Thank u Meena and wish u all the same too 🙂
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Hi Swar, Wish you a very very Happy New Year and Happy Sankranti 🙂
take care
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So nice to have u here R 🙂
Thanks a lot and wish u all the same too! Hugs!
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Happy Shankraati, Swaram to you and your family! I love the ellu bella, kobbari, sakkare achchu mix. Mangaloreans don’t do this and here Tamilians too don’t do this. I used to get it from a Kannada friend when I was in Hosur. Yummyyyy!
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Naavu ashte Sandhya. Ellhu-bella irovaregu oota-thindi nu kadime ne. Adu thinnade jasthi 😛
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Happy Sankranthi 🙂 I wasn’t a big yellu fan adre eega I would do anything for a Dabbi full of it 🙂 I am usually seen gorging on the sakkare achu. So much so, that I get numb to the sweetness and need to be jolted out of it by dousing my tongue in spicy food 😛
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LOL I like sweets which have very less sweet in thehm, whatever that means 😛 So Sakkare achu has always been a no-no for me. I love the whole process of making them though …. Amma used to keep stirring the syrup and sis and I used to fight over which moulds we wanted to pour them into 🙂 Ellhu-bella is a sooper time pass thindi though 😉
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Happy Sankranti 🙂
We use these sugar figures during diwali 🙂
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Oh ok 🙂 Thanks Smita!
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Indeed. Swaram. Today is such a unifying day…festivities all over as also the beginning of the grand Kumbh, Have a happy Sankranti. 🙂
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Oh yes! 10 crore people!
Thanks for the wishes Deboshree 🙂
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haapy Sankranti .. happy lohri happy pongal 🙂 I remember these Sweets Full of Sweet he he he he
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😀 Happy Lohri to u too 🙂
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Hi Swaram, Happy New Year and Happy Sankranti too. Our customs if interpreted properly and followed in the right spirit have a lot of meaning. It is good to maintain certain traditional rituals too.
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How true 🙂
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Ellhu-bella tindu olhe mathanaadi 🙂 🙂
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hehe 😛 😛
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missing yellu bella so much 😦 😦
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Awww hugs!
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Happy Sankranthi to you too!! 🙂
its my fave festival!! 😀
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🙂 Welcome back 😛
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