Harvest, mid-January
Pongal & Makar Sankranti in the United Kingdom 2027
Pongal & Makar Sankranti 2027: Thursday, 14 January 2027
London’s Tamil temples — in East Ham, Wimbledon, Tooting and Lewisham among others — hold Thai Pongal with the ritual boiling-over of the new rice, and Tamil schools and associations run cultural days across the country. Lohri bonfires are lit at Punjabi community events the night before Sankranti.
Pongal & Makar Sankranti events in the United Kingdom0 listed
What Pongal & Makar Sankranti is
The January harvest festival under its many names — Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Sankranti in the north and west, Lohri in Punjab, Bihu in Assam — kept abroad with kite days and Tamil association gatherings.
Makar Sankranti is one of the few Indian festivals on the solar calendar, so it falls on 14 January almost every year. It marks the sun’s turn north and the harvest. Tamil families cook pongal — rice boiled over in milk and jaggery — over four days; Gujaratis fly kites; Punjabis light Lohri bonfires the night before; Assam keeps Bhogali Bihu.
If it is your first one in the United Kingdom
- Sugarcane and the sweets (til-gud, chikki) appear in the Indian grocers in the first week of January.
Questions people ask
- When is Pongal & Makar Sankranti in the United Kingdom in 2027?
- Pongal & Makar Sankranti 2027 falls on Thursday, 14 January 2027. It is not a public holiday in the United Kingdom, so the community celebrates on the weekends around it — events are listed on this page as organisers post them, usually four to six weeks ahead.
- Where can I celebrate Pongal & Makar Sankranti in the United Kingdom?
- London’s Tamil temples — in East Ham, Wimbledon, Tooting and Lewisham among others — hold Thai Pongal with the ritual boiling-over of the new rice, and Tamil schools and associations run cultural days across the country. Lohri bonfires are lit at Punjabi community events the night before Sankranti.
- Can non-Indians go to Pongal & Makar Sankranti events in the United Kingdom?
- Yes. Almost every community event is open to everyone and runs in English; temple and gurdwara celebrations welcome visitors too — dress modestly, and cover your head in a gurdwara.
More festivals in the United Kingdom
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RSVP, see who else is going, chat with the organiser and get a reminder — in the app, free, in every country.
Organising something?
Post it from the app under Events, wherever you are. It is free, a moderator checks it, and it appears here and to every member nearby. Running several a year? Email hello@namaste.community for a listing invite.