Celebration

One of my favorite holidays is Sankranti. It is a harvest festival in India which we celebrate for four days. Each day has a name and its own significance. It is the biggest holiday season, and we celebrate it in the third week of January. People are busy shopping for clothes and gold. Wearing new clothes is a tradition. Food is another important thing about this festival. People usually make sweets, and savory items ahead of time.

It starts with a bonfire. People throw old furniture and wooden items into the fire. Morning breakfast is usually flatbread with chickpea curry or flatbread with chicken. It varies from one home to another. The lunch and dinner feast involves several vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

The second day of the festival involves bringing freshly harvested food, especially rice from the fields. Pongal (rice pudding) is the main dessert on this day. It is the most important and main day of the festival. People wear new clothes. Most people get four different sets of clothes for each day. If they can’t afford them, they try to wear something new for the main day of the festival.

The third day of the festival is all about non-vegetarian food and meat. People cook different kinds of meat. Kids play with kites. The fourth day is mostly eating, relaxing, and playing indoor games with family and relatives. Usually, kids get ten to fifteen days of holiday and adults get a week of vacation. People stay with families for a couple of more days and then go back to their routines.