Every festival has its rituals and for us, Makar Sankranti was about sacrificing a goat. My brother would do the sacrificing and I had to bleat like a goat and say “Meinnnn!”

Though this goat was made up of sesame seeds (til) and jaggery (gud)!

Childhood memories are like kites. You loosen them a little and they will take you deep down the memory lane and bring in numerous tales and anecdotes which you savour for weeks, leaving a lingering sense of happiness.

As Sankranti is a morning festival, Maa used to remind us every now and then to go and get ready, meaning taking bath in cold and foggy winter 🥶.
We would delay as much as possible.

Finally, she would win saying she won’t give us til laddoo, and that one threat would make us fall in line.

Once we are ready, she would create a goat of black sesame seeds and jaggery in a plate.

When my brother sacrificed the goat, I would do meinnnnnn. 😁
At times, just to tease me, my brother would take extra long but I would still do it with equal sincerity, and go Meinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn……

Once we grew, we finally succeeded to convince Mom to use white sesame seeds as eating raw black sesame seeds was tough, you don’t agree? Try it tomorrow, you would know!

After this, we would finally get Til Laddoo! (White sesame seeds laddoo is still one of my favourite)!

In the afternoon, Maa would cook a sumptuous khichdi and serve it with ‘Khichdi ke 4 yaar, ghee, papad, dahi, achar’ and then we would watch kites in the sky till late evening.

Wishing you all a very happy Makar Sankranti!

Note: this ritual is specific to some regions In UP where Sakat Chaturthi is celebrated. It is also known as Sankashti Ganesh Chaturthi i.e. the remover of troubles. To avoid any crisis in the family, earlier there used to be a ritual of goat sacrifice, which stopped a long time ago, and was replaced with a goat made of sesame seeds and jaggery. Mothers pray for the long life, good health and happiness, and prosperity of their children.