Maghi 2028: Date, Rituals & Significance

Krishna Chaturthi runs 14 Jan, 23:17 → 15 Jan, 20:11.

Sikhs take a pre-dawn dip in the sarovar at Sri Muktsar Sahib and other gurdwaras, attend the diwan, hear the katha of the Battle of Muktsar and the tearing-up of the bedava (disclaimer) by Mai Bhago and the forty, and share langar; the three-day Mela Maghi at Muktsar is one of the largest Sikh fairs.

For Hindus in Punjab, Haryana and the hills it is the Sankranti bath and dana of khichdi, til and gur, following the Lohri fire of the night before; kite-flying and wrestling melas are held in places.

Maghi joins the pan-Indian Makar Sankranti to a specific Sikh memory. In 1705 forty Sikhs who had earlier left the Guru returned, fought and died at Khidrana (renamed Muktsar, 'pool of liberation'); Mai Bhago, wounded, survived. Guru Gobind Singh tore up their letter of disassociation and blessed them as the Chali Mukte.

Source: Regional festival tradition and the Puranic / Sangam sources named

The Battle of Muktsar is dated to 29 December 1705; its commemoration was fixed to Maghi (Makar Sankranti), and the Mela Maghi has been held at Muktsar for over three centuries.

• Wikipedia

1. The day after Lohri, Sikhs remember the Chali Mukte, the forty who died at the battle of Khidrana in 1705 and were forgiven by Guru Gobind Singh.
2. The Maghi Mela at Sri Muktsar Sahib draws large crowds for a dip in the sarovar, kirtan and political conferences.
3. Hindus in Punjab and Haryana bathe and give khichdi and til in daan, as on Makar Sankranti.

• Sri Muktsar Sahib (Punjab). The three-day Mela Maghi — sarovar bath, diwan, the Muktsar katha, Nagar Kirtan and langar.
• Punjab, Haryana, the hills. The Makar Sankranti bath and dana of khichdi, til and gur, the morning after Lohri.

• Rau di kheer — Rice cooked slowly in sugarcane juice the night before and eaten cold on Maghi.
• Khichdi with ghee — Given in daan and eaten on the day.

Maghi falls on Saturday, 15 January 2028. Punjabi observance of Makar Sankranti; the Muktsar mela commemorates the 40 Mukte.

at sunrise

Maghi is Makara Sankranti — the Sun's entry into sidereal Capricorn (Lahiri) — on 14 January in the present era, the day after Lohri. Being a solar-ingress festival, its date is nearly fixed in the Gregorian calendar.

Fixed to a solar ingress — the Gregorian date barely moves (a day either way as the ingress instant drifts against the civil day).