Makar Sankranthi

(http://www.magicalmumbai.com/1807/makar-sankranti-kite-flying-festival/)
no copyright infringement intended

This coming Monday the Sun enters the Makara rashi, it's time for harvest and for joy. I looked a little bit into a dictionary where I find always many things, in Wikipedia.

They call it मकर संक्रान्ति in Hindi and Sanskrit. In Bengali, the language of Tagore and of Satyajit Ray, it's মকর সংক্রান্তি. My Indian friends call it ಮಕರ ಸಂಕ್ರಾಂತಿ, as they speak Kannada. In Telugu it's మకర సంక్రాంతి, and in Tamil it's தைப்பொங்கல்: I have two other friends whose tongues are Telugu and Tamil. It's தைப்பொங்கல் in Marathi (a language with its oldest literary works from around 1000 CE). And this is not all, far from that: മകര സാന്‍ക്രാന്തി in Malayalam, মকৰ সংক্রান্তি in Assamese, ମକର ସଂକ୍ରାନ୍ତି in Oriya. With so many tongues and so many lands, Makar Sankranthi is celebrated for many reasons and in many ways. There is one thing in common: this day kids fly their kites.

(video by Ankit imax)

(A Life in Books)