The Sun enters Capricorn and begins its northward journey.
Friday, 15 January 2027·The Sun's entry into Makara (sidereal Capricorn) - a solar festival·Mumbai, Maharashtra
Holy bathing, charity and worship of the Sun at the moment of transit.
Alternative auspicious window for worship and charitable acts.
Charity, purchases and celebration through the day.
Makar Sankranti marks the Sun's transit into Makara (Capricorn) and the start of Uttarayana, the auspicious northward course of the Sun. It is one of the few Hindu festivals fixed to the solar calendar rather than a lunar tithi. The window around the transit - the Punya Kala - is held to be the most meritorious time for holy dips, charity and Sun worship.
Uttarayana is considered the 'day of the gods' and a gateway to spiritual ascent; bathing and giving daan during the Punya Kala are believed to carry special merit.
To honour Surya at the turn toward Uttarayana, to take a holy dip and give charity in the Punya Kala, and to celebrate the harvest.
As the Sun turns north, the long nights begin to shorten and the harvest is gathered - a turning of the year celebrated with dips in sacred rivers, sesame-and-jaggery (til-gul) sweets, and the flying of kites. In the Mahabharata, the patriarch Bhishma, granted the boon of choosing his hour of death, lay on his bed of arrows and waited for Uttarayana to begin before releasing his life, so auspicious is this passage held to be. The til-gul exchanged with the words 'til-gul ghya, god god bola' seals sweetness and goodwill for the year ahead.
Because it tracks the Sun's entry into Capricorn - a solar event - rather than a moon-based tithi, so it falls around 14–15 January each year.
The auspicious window around the solar transit, held to be the best time for a holy dip, daan and Sun worship - shown above for your location.
Makar Sankranti marks the start of the Sun's northward journey (Uttarayana); the two are celebrated together as one turning of the solar year.