Significance Pongal in other states of India:

Significance Pongal in other states of India: Sankranthi is a four-day festival in Andhra Pradesh. The Bhogi festival is observed on the first day and the second day is the most important day and is known as Sankranthi or Pongal. The third day of the festival is Kanuma and the fourth and final day is referred to as Mukkanuma. Uttarayana Punnyakalam period begins with Sankranthi and the next six months are considered highly auspicious In Andhra Pradesh on the Sankranthi day, ‘Pongali’, a dish prepared from the recent rice harvest is offered to Sankranthi Lakshmi. This is quite similar to the dish prepared in neighboring Tamil Nadu during Pongal. An important side dish prepared on the day is the pumpkin curry. 'Arselu' or special ‘Sankranthi Appam' is an important sweet delicacy prepared during Sankranthi. n many families, infants, and children (usually less than three years old) are showered with fruit called "Regi Pandlu", which is the Indian jujube fruit. It is believed that doing this would protect the children from the evil eye. Another notable feature of the festival in South India is Gangireddu a sacred bull, which is decorated with beautiful clothes and ringing bells. Haridasulu are the people of a cast who are dedicated to receiving charities from other people. Haridasu makes gangireddu (bull) dance. The scene clearly depicts bull's obedience to his master. Haridasu sings songs and gangireddu dances according to his master's song. The Haridas go around with a colorfully dressed cow, begging for rice and wishing luck. Gobbemmalu is cow dung balls that are kept on Muggu (Rangoli), which is designed to invite prosperity and bliss into the house. Gobbemmalu is decorated with pasupu (turmeric powder), Kumkuma (red vermilion powder), and with several grain types. They are also decorated with flowers (garlands). Again yet another attraction is decorating the whole street with colourful rangoli. It is the time for women to display their artistic caliber in drawing colourful Moggu or Rangoli. Sambara Jatra  is  fair celebrated every year at Sambara Village of Makkuva Mandal, Vizianagaram District, Andhra Pradesh.  Every Year on the preceding Tuesday of the Pongal/Sankrati festival Polamamba is brought to the village. Since Polamaba is born in Samabara village all the villagers will be treating polamaba as the daughter of the village. As there is a tradition that every girl will come to their parents' house for Sankranti festival, Polamamba is brought to the village during that time. Till next Tuesday the bringing pujas will be performed in the temple and devotees will be taking darshan of Goddess. On the third, Tuesday Sirimanotsavam will be performed and many people from Uttarandhra as well as from Odisha, Chattisgarh, and Maharashtra will take part in the festival. 

 In Karnataka, the festival is called ‘Sankranti’, and cows and bullocks are gaily decorated and fed ‘Pongal’- a sweet preparation of rice. Special prayers are offered in the temples and houses. In the evening, the cattle are led out in procession to the beat of drums and music. At the night a bonfire is lit and the animals are made to jump over the fire. It is the practice in some parts of Karnataka, after the pujas, white sesame (ellu) mixed with pieces of jaggery, peanuts, dry coconut and sugar blocks (shakkare achchu) are exchanged. This is called ‘ellu birodu’. ‘Kari Kadubus’ are prepared during sankranti. In Maharashtra, January 14 is celebrated as a festival of Makar Sankranti and is marked by the flying of kites. On this day, people exchange homemade delicacies like til (sesame) and gur (Jaggery) laddoos and wish each other the sweetness of speech, throughout the year just the way the gur tastes. In Gujarat, it is celebrated as Makar Sankranti. Here, kite-flying is a major event for this day. The International Kite Festival is held at the capital city of Ahmedabad on January 14 to coincide with the festival of Uttarayan. Similarly, in Uttar Pradesh, it is celebrated as Makar Sankranti. Here, taking a ritual bath in the river is obligatory on this day. To mark the occasion of Makar Sankranti, a big mela or fair is also organized at the Triveni Sangam in Allahabad. In Kerala, Makar Sankranti coincide with ‘Makara Jyothi’ in the evening at the hill shrine of Sabarimala. Lakhs of Ayyappa devotees visit to witness a star-like celestial light appearing on the horizon at the time of the evening Deeparadhana. Lord Ayyappa is adorned with special jewels known as Thiruvaabharanam. In Assam, it is celebrated as Bhogali Bihu, in Punjab as Lohri. In Odisha, People prepare ' ‘makar chaula’(uncooked newly harvested rice, banana, coconut, jaggery, sesame, rasagola, khoi and chhena puddings for offering to gods and goddesses. In West Bengal, Sankranti, also known as Poush Sankranti after the Bengali month in which it falls, is celebrated as a harvest festival Poush Parbon.