Solar event — Sun enters Capricorn. Kite festival in Gujarat.
Uttarayan, known across India as Makar Sankranti, is the day the Sun leaves the sign of Sagittarius and enters Capricorn (Makar) to begin its northward journey, the Uttarayan. Unlike most Hindu festivals that follow the moon and shift each year, this is a solar festival, so it falls almost always on 14 January. It is a harvest festival of thanksgiving and the end of the cold, inauspicious Kamurta period, after which weddings and auspicious ceremonies begin again. The sun’s turn to the north is considered so blessed that, in the Mahabharata, Bhishma waited for Uttarayan to leave his body.
For Gujarat, Uttarayan is the festival of the year that belongs to the sky. From dawn the rooftops fill with families of all ages, and the blue winter sky turns into a sea of colourful patang (kites). Friendly duels rage as people try to cut each other’s kites, and the air rings with shouts of "Kai po che!" when a kite is cut loose. The celebration is so grand that Ahmedabad hosts the International Kite Festival, drawing flyers from around the world, while Surat is every bit as kite-mad. As evening falls the sky lights up once more with tukkal, glowing paper lanterns floated into the dark. The two days of 14 and 15 January, the second known as Vasi Uttarayan, belong to kites, lanterns, music, food and togetherness.
No Uttarayan is complete without its food. Gujarati homes prepare undhiyu, the famous mixed winter-vegetable casserole, served with hot jalebi, and everyone shares chikki and til-gud, the sesame-and-jaggery sweets that suit the cold winter mornings. Sharing these sweets carries a simple wish, to keep warmth and sweetness in our words and our relationships through the year ahead. The day is also one of daan (charity), when people donate til, blankets, food and warm clothes, and many take a holy dip at dawn and offer prayers to Surya, the Sun God.
Makar Sankranti has a Punya Kaal, an auspicious window around the exact moment the Sun enters Capricorn, considered the best time for the holy bath, daan and prayers. The precise Sankranti moment and the Punya Kaal shift slightly each year and by location, so check the Panchang for the day. For 14 January 2027, see the full Panchang for the exact Sankranti time and Punya Kaal for your city.
Uttarayan 2027 (Makar Sankranti) is on Thursday, 14 January 2027. The second day, Vasi Uttarayan, is on Friday, 15 January 2027.
Yes. Uttarayan is the Gujarati name for Makar Sankranti, the day the Sun enters Capricorn and begins its northward journey. In Gujarat it is celebrated grandly as the kite festival.
Vasi Uttarayan is the second day of the festival, on 15 January, when kite flying, food and celebration continue. In Gujarat the festivities run across both 14 and 15 January.
The signature dishes are undhiyu (a mixed winter-vegetable casserole) with jalebi, along with chikki and til-gud, sweets of sesame and jaggery that are shared with the wish to speak sweetly through the year.
Flying kites in the bright winter sun is a joyful way to welcome the Sun’s northward journey and to spend the day on the rooftops with family and friends. Over time it has become Gujarat’s signature celebration, now famous worldwide through the International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad.