Sidereal winter solstice celebrations in South and Southeast Asian cultures; marking the transition of the Sun to Capricorn, and the first day of the six months Uttarayana period. (see April 14): Maghi (Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh)
Maghi
Maghi is a Punjabi cultural festival, the Indian harvest festival celebrated on winter solstice. Maghi falls on the first day of the month of Magh and is celebrated in Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh. It follows on the heels of the mid-winter festival of Lohri which is marked by bonfires in North Indian fields and yards. The next morning is seen as an auspicious occasion for ritual bathing in ponds and rivers.
Punjab, India
Punjab is a state in northwestern India. Forming part of the larger Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent, the state is bordered by the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh to the north and northeast, Haryana to the south and southeast, and Rajasthan to the southwest; by the Indian union territories of Jammu and Kashmir to the north and Chandigarh to the east. To the west, it shares an international border with the identically named Pakistani province of Punjab, and as such is sometimes referred to as East Punjab or Indian Punjab for disambiguation purposes. The state covers an area of 50,362 square kilometres, which is 1.53% of India's total geographical area, making it the 19th-largest Indian state by area out of 28 Indian states. With over 27 million inhabitants, Punjab is the 16th-largest Indian state by population, comprising 23 districts. Punjabi, written in the Gurmukhi script, is the most widely spoken and the official language of the state. The main ethnic group are the Punjabis, with Sikhs (57.7%) and Hindus (38.5%) forming the dominant religious groups. The state capital, Chandigarh, is a union territory and also the capital of the neighbouring state of Haryana. Three of the five traditional Punjab rivers — the Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi — flow through the state.
Haryana
Haryana is a state located in the northwestern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% of India's land area. The state capital is Chandigarh, which it shares with the neighbouring state of Punjab; the most populous city is Faridabad, a part of the National Capital Region. The city of Gurgaon is among India's largest financial and technology hubs. Haryana has 6 administrative divisions, 22 districts, 72 sub-divisions, 93 revenue tehsils, 50 sub-tehsils, 140 community development blocks, 154 cities and towns, 7,356 villages, and 6,222 villages panchayats.