Pix: How India celebrates Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Lohri and Bihu

Celebrations galore in different parts of the country.

Come January, India gets ready to celebrate a host of harvest festivals.

The spring season, Hindu month of Magh, is welcomed with much pomp and show.

In Maharashtra, people celebrate Makar Sankranti by distributing til gul; while in Gujarat, kite flying is a sport.

Those in Tamil Nadu welcome Pongal by preparing sweet and savoury snacks.

In North India, Lohri involves dancing and feasting, while in the north east, people bond over Bihu.

Take a look at these photographs that capture the myriad moods and traditions of these festivals.

Hindu devotees lead a cow tethered to a rope over a fire during a ritual to mark the Makar Sankranti festival in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
Makar Sankranti marks the start of the harvest season.
Photograph: Abhishek N Chinnappa/Reuters

A paper lantern is released to celebrate Makar Sankranti. In Gujarat, people celebrate the festival by flying kites and lanterns.
Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters

In Madurai and parts of Tamil Nadu, celebrations include Jallikattu, a controversial bull-taming sport. Villagers try to control a bull ahead of harvest festival of Pongal.
Photograph: Babu/Reuters

A ringside view of Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu

In parts of northern India, devotees take a dip in the Ganga before an aarti is performed.
Seen here is a Hindu priest lighting a traditional lamp to perform the evening prayers on the banks of river Ganges in Allahabad.
Photograph: Jitendra Prakash/Reuters

In the north-eastern state of Assam, villagers indulge in community fishing to celebrate Bihu. The ritual marks the end of the winter harvesting season.
Photograph: Sringer/Reuters

In Karnataka, farmers participate in Kambala, an annual buffalo race. It is believed to please the Gods for a good harvest.
Photograph: Abhishek Chinnappa/Reuters

In Tamil Nadu, Pongal celebrations include boiling a pot of rice from the first harvest of the year and offering it to the Sun God.
Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

How rural Tamil Nadu celebrates Pongal

In Maharashtra, people exchange sugarcane and distribute til gul, a sweet made from sesame seeds.
Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

In Punjab, women perform kikli, a traditional dance, in front of a bonfire to celebrate Lohri. People pop puffed rice, sweets, sugarcane and corn into the bonfire to mark the festival post which til revari, and gachak -- sweets made from sesame seeds and jaggery -- are exchanged.