Makara Sankranthi

Makara sankranti or uttarayana punyakalam is celebrated in tamil nadu on the first day of the month of Thai. Tarpan to our ancesters are done. it is very important.
in tamil nadu it is celebrated as PONGAL and this festival is celebrated for 3days. This festival is attached to harvest . new rice is first offered to god . everywhere this festival is celebrated with same enthusiasm.
BOGI is celebrated on the previous day. this is a day of family gathering and lord indira is worshipped, so that he will give good rain for us to have plentiful crops.then house is completely cleaned for the pongal. discarding the old and welcoming the new is the main idea. people get new clothes. some people buy new vessels also to prepare pongal. Boli, Vadai, Payasam is prepared and relished on this day.
PONGAL.sugar cane and manja kothu are two important items for pongal. other pooja items are bought. this is the beginning of THAI month in the tamil calender and is important month for marriage.this day lord sun is worshiped . one vessel will be decorated nicely and that is called ponga panai.main entrance is nicely decorated with kolam and mango leaves hanging .house is cleaned .all the family members get up early and have bath, wear the new clothes and get ready to keep the ponga panai at the auspicious time. The panai is decorated with Manjal kothu and manjal kumkum is kept on all sides of the vessel. Little milk is poured .lamp is lit in the pooja room.when time comes panai is kept on the fire . ponga means boil. when it starts boiling and it raises namaskaram is done. we pray for abundance of happiness. Chakra pongal is prepared in that vessel.
Lots of other dishes are prepared such as aviyal, vadai and normal cooking. on a plank sun god with races are painted with kolam and worshiped. pongal and other items with sugarcane is offered to god. People seek elders blessings and enjoy the food. kumkum is given to ladies. sweets are disributed to neighbours.
KANU. with the left over rice (specially prepared) prepare yellow , red and curd rice.and left over pongal also. this is celebrated specially for brothers happiness, he sends gift in return. all the ladies early in the morning, before the birds come out keep KANUPODI.have oil bath and prepare kalanda sadam as naivedyam. in the village people will go to river side.this day they worship cattle's at home. they are nicely decorated and fed with pongal and worshipped.
In Karnataka, til(seaseme) and jaggary is given to relatives and neighbour. in north india also til , jaggery, ghee, rice, vegetables ,blankets new vessel are given to Brahman. Since this day it is auspicious to give dhaan. khichadi is made and offered to god .
there is an interesting story behind why Khichadi is made.
guru gorakhnath along with his disciples went on a pilgrimage.. that day was sankranthi. he fell short of food. prepared a kichdi made of dals and rice salt, turmeric and seaseme . he did pooja to sun and offered kichdi he distributed it to his disciples and he also had it. it was very nice. since then the ritual of making and distributing kichdi is prevalent
in assam it is celebrated as bihu festival. everywhere there is new crop which is first offered to god. with the blessings of sun god there should be prosperity and happiness everywhere.
All the Fridays of Thai month is important. Devi is worshipped for happiness everywhere.