Comets connect with culture through Makar Sankranti

The group Hindu Yuva at UTD celebrated Makar Sankranti at the DFW Hindu Temple on Jan. 15 to commemorate the start of a new season.

Makar Sankranti is a festival celebrated across India that illustrates solidarity in diversity. Each state has different ways of observing Makar Sankranti; however, harvest is the factor that brings them all together.

In Hindu scripture, Sankranti rep- resents the movement of the sun from one Rashi — or constellation of the zodiac — to the next, meaning there are 12 Sankranti in a year. Out of the 12, the Makar Sankranti is considered the most auspicious and is one of the few Hindu festivals aligned with the solar cycle. Makar Sankranti’s importance isn’t just limited to its religious significance. The festival also marks the beginning of the harvest season, when new crops are worshipped and shared with delight. It is a celebration of the changing of seasons and welcomes positivity and good intentions.

“We took [students] from UTD to the temple ... and then we had some chai and snacks,” Saket Puri, president of Hindu Yuva and political science graduate student, said. “There was a puja [worship of the Lord] that happened, sun salutations were done for an hour, kite flying and then there was prasad [food] that was distributed.”

The puja and sun salutations are vital parts of the festival, as Makar Sankranti