Almost a month has past.
The cool,
fresh air has now turned into a frosty atmosphere... The
skin of the hands, feet and the face is slowly becoming ruff and dry… the trees
have also started shedding their leaves,
looking as if they have no clothes to protect themselves
from the cold and dry atmosphere.
The days become short in duration while nights are quite
long.
This is called winter or the shishir rutu/शिशिर ऋतु.
According to astronomy
it is winter when the sun is in Capricorn / Aquarius.
According to Ayurveda, January and February are the months
of winter
In the orbital motion of the earth during this time,
The southern side of the earth moves away from the sun and
The northern part of the earth starts coming nearer to the
sun, also known as uttarayan.
This being said,
The northern side of the earth is still too far away from
the sun to have any noticeable effect.
There for, part of the northern hemisphere such as India
continues to experience the chilly weather.
Just like we have the joyous celebrations of Diwali
or Kojagari
Paurnima,
In order to guard against this cold and dry atmosphere
during this time of the year,
There is the festival of brightness and warmth, Makar
Sankranti!
As the til / sesame
provides warmth and Gul / Jaggery softens the skin,
To protect our skin from becoming ruff and dry,
The nutritious and healing combination of Til and gul/Tilgul
or तिळगूळ is consumed!
To keep the skin warm and soft throughout the winter,
The sesame oil is also used for a body massage, also known
as abhyanga / अभ्यंग.
Along with these healthy effects,
Some positive changes also take place during this festival!
The duration of the day starts to increase yet again and the
nights start becoming much shorter in comparison.
Just like our skin, in order to warm the human mind with
love and the unified feeling of togetherness,
the message of being kind to and polite with everyone is shared through the gift of Tilgul!
