Thread by @chauchaubhath

1. Every #MakaraSankranti, I'm reminded of the Spinning Top. लट्टू. ಬುಗುರಿ. பம்பரம்.
Unlike kite-flying, it's not a ritual sport, at least AFAIK.
My dad would use this analogy when he explained the path of the sun around the earth through the year - the #Solar #ecliptic.

2. Following is a #Thread about the 'why' of #MakaraSankranti. Please bear with me if this is already known.

Let's say, Earth was a round top and the Sun would wind thread around it. Each time, the new rotation of the thread (pitch) would sit right next to the previous one.

3. If it started on the Tropic of Capricorn, the pitch moving North, it would go on upto the Tropic of Cancer, stop there, change direction & start moving South again, until it reached the Tropic of Capricorn, where it would turn North again. Ad infinitum.

4. So why would the Sun not go beyond these circles? Because that's His remit. Because the earth spins on an #axis that is tilted at 23½° to the celestial equator.

5. If I stood at a point on the earth and looked at the exact point of #sunrise on the horizon. Say, I started on Dec 22nd. This point would move North every day till it reached a point, when it would start moving South again. Would swing like a pendulum.

6. When the ecliptic reaches Cancer, the Northern-most point, he appears to stay still. Solstice. 'The day when the sun stays still.' And it's summer for us in the northern hemisphere. Summer Solstice.

7. And then, He starts moving again to the south, until He reaches Capricorn, when, again, He appears to stay still. Winter solstice for us.
He crosses the centre of this celestial pendulum twice. The Spring and Autumnal equinoxes.
Now, where does this fit into the Zodiac?

8. Well, we all know that the #Zodiac signs of the world have Sanskrit synonyms too. 😊

Mesha Aries
Vrishabha Taurus
Mithuna Gemini
Kataka/Karkaataka Cancer
Simha Leo
Kanyaa Virgo
Tulaa Libra
Vrishchika Scorpio
Dhanur Sagittarius
Makara Capricorn
Kumbha Aquarius
Meena Pisces

9. These Rashis are all constellations in our universe, which lie side by side as we look at the sky. They are aligned next to one another in the sky in the order that we follow. So it follows that...

10.
...in the course of the year, the sun will be aligned with different Rashis, or Zodiac signs, as he moves across the horizon on His ecliptic. And every time he shifts from one Rashi to the next, a 'Sankramana', or a change, occurs.

11. Another point: we have two 'Ayanas' in our calendar.
Refer to the direction of movement of the sun on the ecliptic. The 6 months when he moves southward is Dakshinayana. On Makara Sankranti, when he turns northwards again, the Uttarayana starts and lasts the next 6 months.

12. Like MakaraSankramana, the best known, there's a Sankramana for every Rashi that He traverses, but most of us don't bother about these.
Makara Sankramana corresponds, or USED TO CORRESPOND, to the southernmost remit of the ecliptic. WinterSolstice.
But wait, that's Dec 22 !?

13. Well, here's where the climate variations with time come in. There are three types - diurnal, seasonal and secular.
Diurnal refers to the daily change. Day and night.
Seasonal is the annual change of seasons.
Secular refers to longterm changes in climate over many centuries.

14. So probably, many centuries ago when people started observing Sankranti, MakaraSankranti coincided with Winter Solstice. Over many centuries, solstice has gradually shifted to Dec 22nd, while Sun's transition from Sagittarius to Capricorn has remained Jan 14th/15th.

15. So that is what Makara Sankranti is. And that is how the Sun is at the centre of this occasion.
It signifies the point in time when the Sun stops his downward course and turns back upward (if you look at the map of the earth conventionally - Northside up - that is).

16. Has a #positive connotation to human civilisation in general. And we #celebrate it across our land, from Kashmir's Shishur Sankranti to Kanyakumari's Pongal to Okha's Uttaran to Lekhapani's Magh Bihu,
variously as the harbinger of spring, or #harvest #festival.

If you already knew all this, please excuse me.
In any case, thanks for bearing with me all along.
Let's wish each other a Happy #MakaraSankranti, #Pongal, #Lohri, #uttaran, #MaghBihu, #Shishur #Sankranti & other names by which this #festival is known across our land!

End. 😊🙏