Did Telugu People in Australia Celebrate Sankranti Today?

 

Did Telugu People in Australia Celebrate Sankranti Today?

If they did, it is OK. But, did they celebrate Makar Sankranti? If they did, they did not know that it was most inappropriate! I will explain.

What does Sankranti mean? In Sanskrit, it means “transition” or “passage”, I learned. Makar Sankranti means the Sun transitions from Makar constellation (Capricorn).

While the Sun “travels” north starting around December 21, as per Hindu astrology/calendar (which is lunisolar), we celebrate it in the middle of January. But, that is not very relevant here. What is relevant though is the seasonal implications of this change in the apparent change in the direction of motion of the Sun.

On Makar Sankranti, India celebrates the beginning of the lengthening of the days and shortening of the nights, leaving behind the long and dreary nights. Point to note: India is situated wholly in the Northern Hemisphere of the earth. More to the point: Australia is situated wholly in the Southern Hemisphere of the earth.

Now, you are aware why I chose Telugus in Australia. They celebrate Makar Sankranti with gusto. Tamils, not so much, while they have christened it as the festival “Pongal”, to signify overflowing prosperity. Not bad. Quite secular. Yet, leave it to Tamil Brahmins to make a religious ceremony out of it – Suryanarayana Pooja!

Telugus in Australia must bemoan the shortening of the days and the lengthening of the nights when the Sun “travels” northward. It foretells the winter Down Under. What I know is Australian winters, along the coast (where most of the population lives, just like in Greenland) is not half as bad as in the northern hemisphere. Yet, it is winter and days are indeed shorter than nights.

So, when should Telugus in Australia celebrate the equivalent of Makar Sankranti? Karkataka Sankranti, when the Sun starts its southward journey, leaving the Tropic of Cancer!

Do they? No, not as far as I know.

Sankranti, meaning merely “transition”, is OK; yet, celebrating Makar Sankranti is not!

Raghuram Ekambaram