Mid-January
Uttarayani
As the sun begins its northward journey in mid-January, Kumaon marks Uttarayani with holy dips at the river confluences — and at Bageshwar, the famous Uttarayani fair draws the whole region for trade, music and gathering.
All festivalsUttarayani
/ ut·ra·ya·ni /उत्तरायणी
the sun's turning — the mid-winter festival as the sun turns north; Kumaon's great Bageshwar fair.
Makar Sankranti — Uttarayani in Kumaon — falls in the depth of winter, when the sun turns north and the days begin, slowly, to lengthen. People bathe at the sangam of the Saryu and Gomti at Bageshwar, and the town's centuries-old Uttarayani fair fills with traders, folk singers and crowds from across the hills.
At home it's also Ghughutiya, the children's festival of sweet dough birds. Together they make mid-January, for all its cold, one of the liveliest stretches of the Kumaoni year.
The sun turns north
Holy dips at the river confluences as the days begin to lengthen.
The Bageshwar fair
Kumaon's great winter fair of trade, music and gathering.
