Makara Sankranti marks the day of the sun’s transit into the Capricorn zodiac.

Makara Sankranti marks the day of the sun’s transit into the Capricorn zodiac.

Makar means the zodiac sign of Capricornus & Sankraman means transition which means the entry of Sun into Capricornus on this day. Now the sun will move towards north.

The sun is in the Southern Hemisphere
before Makar Sankranti and it it will move towards the North . For this reason, in India, the nights become longer and days are become smaller in winter.

But with the Makar Sankranti, the sun starts its journey towards Northern Hemisphere and so, days will be longer and nights smaller.

Makara Sankranti is known by different names in different regions like Pongal in Sakraat in Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Magh Bihu in Assam, and Maghi in Punjab.

Will the dates of Sankranti be the same forever?

The answer is ‘No’. Sankranti moves forward. Every year, the Sun gets “delayed” by an average of 6 hours 9 minutes. In 4 years, Sun’s entry into Capricornus gets pushed by 24 hours 36 mins.

Then comes the leap year with an extra day and pulls it back by 24 hours. This results in a net accumulation of 36 mins in 4 years that are never recovered. This slowly but surely keeps pushing Sankranti ahead.