January 17, 2016

Makara Sankranthi and more... Part 1

Sankranthi, Pongal or Lohri as you may call it, is celebrated as the harvest festival across India on the 13th to 16th of January every year. Each state has their own way of celebrating the arrival of spring. For us in Andhra, we celebrate it over three days. First day is Bhogi, second day is Sankranthi and the third day is Kanuma. 

Starting with the month of Dhanurmasam (Mid Dec - Mid Jan) where the Sun enters the Dhanur Rasi, we start adorning our entrances with colorful muggulu. The muggu powder is made with the sand of lime stone. To give it a bit of smooth and white texture, we add rice flour to it. From amateur lines to huge designs, we progressed as we grew up. The size of my muggu would range anywhere from 5 to 35 dots in length. The bigger it is, the prouder we were. I wasn't a prize winner but I was almost an expert in making these beautiful patterns. Though a child, I would compete with the older ladies of the neighborhood in making bigger designs each day :-).  Mind you, these are not as easy as they seem to be. Getting the dots in a straight line is a challenge in itself. Our news paper would publish a Muggu each day. The first job in the morning is to grab it and practice it on a piece of paper. I would then neatly copy it in the fair muggu notebook that I duly maintained. The muggu would be decorated with Gobbemmalu (Cow dung balls), turmeric, kumkum and flowers. This is the stinkiest part of the whole process. 


Image courtesy: Nechcheli.com

It is a tradition to collect all the old and unused stuff of the house and set a bonfire called Bhogi mantalu in the wee hours of the morning. This symbolises the disposal of the old and the welcoming of the new. In the villages, elders watch out for the naughty kind who grab any piece of wooden furniture that is visible to use for their fire. Girls in teens dance around the fire singing songs in praise of lord Indra.

We take a special shower with sunni pindi (Herbal bath powder) and Shikakai and the entire family wears new clothes.

On the evening of Bhogi, we do a pooja and pour Bhogi PaLLu on the babies to kids. From months to 5-6 year old. Bhogi PaLLU is a mixture of Regi (berries, Indian plum), coins, flowers, sugar cane cubes, black chick peas.  Children are dressed up and they have a merry time collecting all the coins. We don't do the Bhongi mantalu or the Bhogi paLLu in my household though. May be we already grew up by then :-)

I have too many memories associated with the festival. One of the initial ones are the Haridasus that would go from door to door where we would pour rice in the akshya patra that he carried on his head. Like many things cultural, they are also becoming a rarity these days.

Pic courtesy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rdkumarj/

As a child, I would eagerly wait and run to the main gate to look at the colorful Gangireddu and the Basavanna that went through the village playing their Sannayi. We would hand them down the clothes that are in usable condition. 


Pic Courtesy: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vijay_chennupati

I think I will stop it here for Bhogi and come up with a part 2 for Sankranthi...Thanks to Rachna for her Sankranthi post that triggered all these memories.

Muggulu - Rangoli
Gobbemmalu - Round balls made of cow dung
Bhogi Mantalu - bonfire made with cow dung cakes and old stuff of the house
Gangireddu - A Bull decorated with colorful clothes, bells and it dances
Basavanna - The guy who carries the Gangireddu
Sannayi - Clarinet.

22 comments:

  1. Living in Delhi, all I know is Lohri - a Punjabi Sakranti of sorts. :) My mother, hailing from UP sticks to some rituals but we in metros know little about Sakranti folk lore. This was informative.

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    1. I totally hear you, Alka. Growing up in towns, the traditions sort of get flexible according to our convenience and we end up doing whatever works the best for us. Imagine if I lived in a nice neighbor hood in Gurgaon, how would I be able to put cow dung balls in front of my entrance? I would get a notice from the maintenance immediately :D

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  2. Do you still have the muggulu notebook? If not, start one right away, girl! These arts are dying and need to be kept alive by those who know them. Rituals are not empty gestures, they serve a lot many functions, one of which is aesthetics.

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    1. No, BM. Unfortunately, I don't. I told mom to save it but in her moves, I think she gave it to somebody. You know one day at work, I was so bored in this meeting...I drew a muggu in a notebook. :D But do you think I need to maintain a book? They are available in the internet.

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  3. Finally I read the post. This was so informative. I had no clue. Thank you for sharing the stories and rituals.

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    1. That's what I figured out when I read your post. Then I thought, why don't I write what I know of and at least share the little knowledge. This could have been even lengthier if I explained the detailed version of each and every ritual...but I thought this would suffice :)

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  4. you know it is funny because when someone asked me the other day why is Lohri celebrated I could not explain the reason properly

    now going thrrough this post was like a treasure as i learnt new things I had no clue .. India has so much WIDE culture so many rituals .. WOWOWWO

    and heyyyyyyyyyyyyy HOW are you .. Happy Lohri to you and family .. sorry i am bit late .. but i have my reasons will tell some other time :)


    Bikram's

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    1. You know Bikram bhai, the reason I wrote this post is I figured that much that many people are not aware of what we actually do for sankranthi :) I am so glad when Alka, Rachna and you said you learnt something from here. Hearing that for the first time on my blog and makes me happy :) We all are doing good and hope the same with you. A very Happy Lohri to you and your family!

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  5. Such a nostalgic post. :) Our pongal celebrations are very similar to yours and you have written about it in such great detail and so beautifully. Reminded me of my childhood days and the amazing fun memories.

    I was a fan of muggu when I was a kid. I used to watch my mom do it effortlessly and yeah… I know it is not at all easy. I used to volunteer to fill in the colors. :)

    Waiting for part 2. :)

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    1. OH ya...filling in the colors was the fun part. And we had to be economical even in filling the colors. We would mix muggu with the colors to get lighter versions of it. I thought so too. TN must be having similar version of celebrations.
      My god..now it reminds me that I have to put up the part 2...didn't even write...work's a bit crazy these days :(

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    2. yeah.... still waiting for the second part! :)

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  6. I hadn't heard of Lohri before---thank you for sharing the info and the pictures are really cool, too!

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    1. These traditions have a long way to go back, Marcia :) Glad you liked them.

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  7. Thanks for the insight into the rituals and was truly impressed with your Rangoli skills,Latha! Wishing you tons of happiness!

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    1. Thank you, Rahul sir. I am slowly forgetting the skill :( India is so diverse, isn't it? We have so many rituals and each of them are so different from each other.

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  8. Makar Sakranthi is one of my personal favorite festivals, lots of fun and not just rituals...

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    1. :)True, Prasad. Fun is what makes our festivals more special.

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  9. Very informative! The Husband is from Hyderabad but I didn't know there were so many rituals associated with this festival. I only know about the muggulu and the food! :)

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    1. Hahaha....your comment made me smile. Oh yes, food is an integral part of our festivals. Though he is from Hyd, I think it has got to do with where you grew up. We hailing from the Andhra side of the state have a different set of celebrations compared to those who grew up in the city. :)

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  10. Interesting to read about such different traditions and customs down south for Makar sakranti! Thanks for sharing, Latha :)

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    1. Glad to see you here after a long time, Shilpa. True that each of us have so many varied customs and traditions in our Country. Seriously, I am intrigued by our diversity many times :) My pleasure writing this.

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  11. Bhogi and the various things we do , in the villages, during festivals,....so significant in many ways.
    Loved the post

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