Festival · Surya

Makar Sankranti

The Sun enters Makara (Capricorn). It is a harvest festival across India: Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Lohri the night before in Punjab.

Makar Sankranti 2027
Friday 15 January 2027
New Delhi

For New Delhi, Friday 15 January 2027

Sunrise
7:15 am
Sunset
5:46 pm
Moonrise
11:21 am
Moonset
12:32 am, 16 Jan

Worked out for your city. Panchangs can differ by a minute or so.

Full panchang for this day →

Puja times

For New Delhi, Friday 15 January 2027

Maha Punya Kaal

7:15 am to 9:00 am

Punya Kaal
7:15 am to 5:46 pm
The Sun enters the sign
9:16 pm, 14 Jan

Worked out for your city. Panchangs can differ by a minute or so.

How it is kept

Customs vary by region and family

  • Take a holy dip and offer water to the Sun
  • Share sweets of sesame and jaggery
  • Give to charity; fly kites in Gujarat

What it remembers

Makar Sankranti is the day the Sun enters Makara, Capricorn, in the sidereal zodiac, and begins its northward journey, Uttarayana. It is one of the few festivals set by the Sun, so it falls on 14 or 15 January almost every year. It is the harvest across India: Pongal, Lohri, Uttarayan, Bihu, Maghi. People bathe in rivers in the Punya Kaal, give sesame and jaggery, and fly kites.

Bhishma’s wait

Bhishma, wounded on the battlefield of Kurukshetra and lying on a bed of arrows, had the boon of choosing his time of death. He waited fifty-eight days, until the Sun turned north on Makar Sankranti, so that he might die in Uttarayana, the bright half of the year, and be freed.

Surya visits Shani

Makara is ruled by Shani, Saturn, the son of Surya, with whom the Sun quarrelled. On Makar Sankranti Surya goes to his son’s house; their reconciliation is why sesame (Shani’s grain) and jaggery are given, and why the day is for making up quarrels: “til gul ghya, god god bola”, take sesame and jaggery, and speak sweetly.

The Ganga reaches the sea

King Bhagiratha brought the Ganga down from heaven to free his ancestors’ souls, and she followed him to the sea on Makar Sankranti, at Ganga Sagar, where the sons of King Sagara had been burnt to ash. A dip there on this day draws lakhs of pilgrims.

The Punya Kaal

The holy bath, the offering to the Sun and the giving are kept in the Punya Kaal, best in the Maha Punya Kaal; the page shows both for your city. Families keep it in many ways; follow your own tradition where it differs.

  1. Bathe in the Punya Kaal, in a river if you can, with black sesame added to the water.
  2. Offer water to the Sun (arghya) from a copper pot, with red flowers, rice and sesame, and chant the Gayatri or Aditya Hridayam.
  3. Give sesame, jaggery, rice, blankets and khichdi to the poor and to brahmins: the giving of this day is held to multiply.
  4. Eat khichdi with ghee, til laddoos and chikki, and share sweets of sesame and jaggery with neighbours.
  5. Fly kites from the rooftops through the day, in Gujarat and Rajasthan above all.

What you need

  • Black sesame and a copper pot of water for the Sun
  • Sesame and jaggery sweets (til laddoo, chikki, gajak)
  • Rice and dal for khichdi
  • Blankets, grain or clothes to give
  • Kites and string

Across India

Tamil Nadu

Pongal, four days: Bhogi, Thai Pongal when the new rice boils over in a clay pot, Mattu Pongal for the cattle, and Kaanum Pongal.

Punjab and Haryana

Lohri on the night before, around a bonfire with rewri, peanuts and popcorn; Maghi the next morning.

Gujarat and Rajasthan

Uttarayan: the sky full of kites from dawn to dusk, undhiyu and chikki on the rooftops.

Assam

Magh Bihu (Bhogali Bihu): the night feast in the meji huts, burnt at dawn.

Maharashtra and Karnataka

Til-gul and ellu-bella shared with “speak sweetly”; haldi-kumkum gatherings of women.

Bengal and Bihar

Poush Sankranti with pithe, and the Ganga Sagar mela; in Bihar, dahi-chura and til on Khichdi.

When it falls

The day the Sun enters Makara (Capricorn) in the sidereal zodiac.

These are the usual rules. A few days can differ by a day in your tradition, so check with your temple.

Makar Sankranti in the coming years

New Delhi, India time

  1. 2027Friday 15 January 2027
  2. 2028Saturday 15 January 2028

Questions

When is Makar Sankranti in 2027?

Friday 15 January 2027, in New Delhi. In a few places it can fall a day apart, so the date above is worked out for your city.

When does Makar Sankranti fall?

The day the Sun enters Makara (Capricorn) in the sidereal zodiac.

How is Makar Sankranti kept?

Families take a holy dip and offer water to the Sun, share sweets of sesame and jaggery and give to charity; fly kites in Gujarat. Customs vary by region and family.

Who is honoured on Makar Sankranti?

Surya. The Sun enters Makara (Capricorn). It is a harvest festival across India: Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Uttarayan in Gujarat, Lohri the night before in Punjab.

Why does Makar Sankranti fall on the same date every year?

It is set by the Sun, not the moon: the day the Sun enters sidereal Capricorn. That falls on 14 or 15 January, moving slowly later over the centuries as the sidereal zodiac drifts against the seasons.

Why is it sometimes on 15 January?

If the Sun enters Makara after sunset, the festival and its Punya Kaal move to the next day. In 2027 the Sun enters at about 9:14 pm on 14 January (New Delhi), so Makar Sankranti is the 15th.

What is the Punya Kaal?

The time for the holy bath, the offering to the Sun and the giving: from the Sun’s entry into Makara (or the next sunrise) for up to forty ghatis, ending at sunset. The Maha Punya Kaal is its first five ghatis. The page shows both for your city.

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