Happy Sankranti :)

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. 

Ellhu-bella, Sakkare Acchu, banana and sugarcane

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 🙂