( From top ) Women of the Telugu community in Berhampur celebrate Pongal, a boy flies a kite on the occasion of Makar Sankranti and a religious procession to mark Eid-e-Milad in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Pictures by Gopal Krishna Reddy, Badrika Nath Das and Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Jan. 14: Makar Sankranti or Pongal, and Eid-e-Milad coincided today, giving a reason for the residents to celebrate.

People in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack had a number of programmes lined up throughout the day to observe the festivals.

Primarily a harvest festival, Makar Sankranti or Pongal also marks “uttarayan” or the sun’s entrance to the northern hemisphere or “makar raashi”.

Odias worship the sun on the festival that falls on the same date almost every year. As is the tradition in many places, people prepared a special dish called makara chaula with the newly harvested rice, along with jaggery, sugarcane and various other items that is offered to the presiding deity of the house.

Bonfires are also common, especially in Berhampur, where people celebrate Pongal as well. The celebrations are big in Mayurbhanj and some parts of west Odisha where the tribal people worship Tussu idols, feast, sing and dance throughout the day.

Cockfights are a common sight in these regions on the day of Makar Sankranti. Tribal people from Salia Sahi in Bhubaneswar also organised these fights. But the main attraction of the day in Cuttack and Bhubaneswar was kite flying. Children as well as adults were seen buying kites of different sizes and shapes made of with paper and polythene. The thread reels were also in demand.

“Kite-flying around the end of December in Cuttack and reaches its peak on Makar Sankranti. But the craze has definitely declined over the years owing to the risks of ‘manjha’ or the sharp thread. The lack of interest and availability of terraces and open spaces are other reasons of the decline of this practice,” said Pappu Tiwari, a kite-seller in Cuttack’s Buxi Bazar.

In Bhubaneswar, girls and boys got together and competed in flying kites at the KIIT Management campus where a local FM radio channel had organised a kite festival on the occasion.

“It was great fun to fly kites. This is the first time I tried my hand at kite-flying and it was an absolutely thrilling experience,” said Shovana, a participant.

To observe the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammed, religious processions with hundreds of Muslim devouts chanting slogans in praise of the prophet, were carried out both in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack.

“It is an important day for us. Like always, the community members today took part in a spiritual procession to pay respects to our prophet,” said Asad Hussain, a resident of Bhubaneswar.