Makar Sankranti
Makar Sankranti is a spring festival of India. The festival is celebrated by the flying of kites in most of northern India. Makar Sankranti falls on January 14 on non-leap years and on January 15 on leap years. It is the only Hindu festival which is based on the solar calendar rather than the Lunar calendar. The day is a holiday in the state of Gujarat. Kites are flown for most of the day in the region. The objective of this sport is to cut as many rival kites as possible to attain air superiority. Additionally, a cut kite may be also picked up by another kite giving the collector a free kite. The diamond shaped kites come in various hues designs. The thread, known as manja is sharpened with finely crushed glass pieces. The season also is perfect for spending a day in a sun. The season is also windy making it ideal for kite flying. At night special lantern kites with candles embedded are flown which give the skies an eerie feeling. The festival however sees a lot of participants sustaining injuries in cities due to the rush to catch a fallen kite. Often deaths have resulted when children display reckless behaviour on rooftops trying to catch kites. The sport is also harms a lot of pigeons who get entangled in the fine manja. Many pigeons lose their wings or sustain serious cuts rendering them terrestrial.
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