January
Makar Sankranti, when the Sun enters Capricorn, is celebrated across India with sesame and jaggery, kites and holy baths. In Tamil Nadu it is Pongal, four days in which new rice is boiled in milk until it overflows, and cattle are honoured on Mattu Pongal. Punjab lights the Lohri bonfire on the night before, offering it sesame, popcorn and jaggery. Assam celebrates Magh Bihu with community feasts and bonfires (meji).
April
Mesha Sankranti brings the solar new year and the rabi harvest: Vaisakhi in Punjab, with Bhangra and the founding day of the Khalsa; Rongali Bihu in Assam, with dance and song; Vishu in Kerala, with the Vishukkani, an auspicious arrangement of the harvest seen first thing in the morning; and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu.
Autumn
Onam in Kerala, in August or September, welcomes King Mahabali back for ten days with flower carpets (pookalam), boat races and the great feast (sadya). Nuakhai in western Odisha offers the first new rice to the goddess Samaleswari. Navanna in Bengal celebrates the new rice of Agrahayana, and Kati Bihu in Assam lights lamps in the paddy fields. Chhath in Bihar thanks the Sun at the end of the harvest season.
Thanking the cattle
Many harvest festivals honour the animals that work the fields: Mattu Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Kanuma in Andhra Pradesh, and Govardhan Puja after Diwali, when cows and bullocks are bathed, decorated and fed.