Poush Gur Japan: Delightful Winter Festival

Makar Sankranti has a tradition that’s much older in enjoying the glee of creating and relishing diverse types of sweets, specially those delicious rice cakes called pithas. Near the banks of Ganga, villagers of rural Bengal gathered freshly squeezed date palms juice referred to as jaggery sap, and produced tasty desserts. The winter festival in Bengal was a time for collecting fresh date palm sap, preparing nolen gur (new jaggery) and pattali gur (another variety of jaggery), and preparing traditional sweets such as Jayanagar’s famous moa and different types of pithas.

This season would be characterized by the pounding of rice with the “dhaka” (a large traditional pestle) in the villages. A plethora of traditional food preparations would be found in rural Bengali homes. The thought of cooking rice in date sap may appear unusual, but this was something Swami Vivekananda once pioneered. In January 1902, while in Bodhgaya with his Japanese scholar friend Okakura and American devotee Miss MacLeod, he created a dish using rice cooked in date sap. This was an innovative experiment in the world of food, showing the depth of Swami Vivekananda’s culinary knowledge.

Bengali Village Life During Makar Sankranti

In the rural households, the preparation of pithas was not just an ordinary act of cooking, it was an act of gathering and sharing. The sound of grinding rice and making sweets was ubiquitous. Although it has all been replaced with machinery in today’s modern world, chire (flattened rice) and muri (puffed rice) were prepared by toiling out from fields where no chemical fertilizers or hybrid grains were used, but there was an art in their preparation. There was puffed rice specific to the eastern Bengal regions made of varieties such as “ghigaja” and “bhusiyara”, while in northern regions, such varieties were also available as “tulai-panji,” which were celebrated for their puffed rice scented and fragrant.

In making chire, care was taken as above. Soaked rice would be roasted over an open fire, and when it started to puff, it would be flattened, creating a delicate, aromatic puffed rice. This process, once a common tradition in villages, is now a rare sight, replaced by mass production. During Makar Sankranti, people would also prepare jaggery-based sweets like nadu (sweet balls) and patisapta (sweet crepes filled with coconut or khoya). In fact, the heart of this celebration was the traditional sweets made from rice and jaggery.

Sweet Essence of Date Jaggery

The rural economy revolved around date sap harvesting. In the winter months, the villagers would send up “gachis” or palm tree climbers to the date palms to collect the sap. This was then boiled over an open fire to make jaggery, a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. The jaggery produced would have different textures and sweetness level; it was widely used in several food items—from sweets to rice preparations. The fresh date sap and jaggery that it yielded had a simple flavour but was pure until now. Many commercial businesses are now involved in using additives and chemicals to come up with similar products, thereby diluting the authenticity and taste of what it once was.

In the old days, one would often see the villagers painstakingly making jaggery in big iron pots, over a fire fueled by dried leaves, rice husks, and even stalks of rice plants. The long, slow process of boiling the sap, watching it turn gradually into golden-hued jaggery, was a labor of love. This way of making jaggery made it often enjoyed as a part of the festive spread, with coconut or khoya and was even used in preparing sweets like “chhena-poda” (a baked dessert). It was a task that the family engaged in, especially the womenfolk, to make jaggery and its sweets.

Decline of Traditional Practices

In the modern day, the traditional procedure of jaggery preparation and sweets is seemingly at the back burner. The modern world has replaced most of the labor-intensive practices with industrialized mass production. The handcrafted sweets and jaggery are now often replaced by synthetic, mass-produced versions that concern people regarding the quality and authenticity. Nostalgia for the pure, unadulterated taste of natural jaggery and sweets made from it lives on in the memories of people who grew up in rural Bengal. The lost connection to this traditional method and values where time is dedicated to creating something wholesome and nourishing is much more apparent in the cities where the convenience of the product will override craftsmanship.

Importance of Pithas Permanently

The pithas, or traditional rice cakes, are an integral part of Bengali culture, especially during Makar Sankranti. These rice cakes come in a variety of shapes, flavors, and fillings, from the sweet coconut-filled “patisapta” to the savory, fried “pitha.” Each region of Bengal has its specialty. The Purni pitha, a signature of rural Bengal, often uses date jaggery, while the Patashapta involves a combination of coconut and khoya.

Makar Sankranti also marks the end of the harvest season, when families celebrate the abundance of new crops and the joy of the new season’s arrival. This celebration is not just about food, but about community, family, and tradition. The making of pithas is symbolic of a deep, centuries-old culture, where every generation passes on the knowledge of how to make these treats, fostering a sense of continuity and love.

Modern-Day Celebrations and the Loss of Tradition

However, in modern times, the urban lifestyle has led to a shift in how Makar Sankranti is celebrated. Many people now prefer to purchase sweets and pithas from shops, and the traditional methods of making them at home have become less common. Even more is the fact that even the new generation finds its way towards newer innovative variations of the sweets, like chocolate-filled patisapta and ice cream made from date jaggery, rather than the traditional and authentic varieties their grandmother may have prepared. The feel of the rural, family-oriented celebrations of Makar Sankranti often now finds its way instead vicariously through nostalgia, rather than as a form of direct engagement with these practice patterns.

The traditional food, the handmade sweets, and the festivals they were part of are turning into memories quickly. Loss of the traditional practices is like losing pieces of a changeable world that gradually finds no space for the speed of modern life, often leaving no time for slow, deliberate pleasures like cooking and family gatherings.

Ultimately, the spirit of Makar Sankranti and the celebration of the harvest season in Bengal, marked by pithas and the sweet taste of date jaggery, stays alive in the collective memory of Bengali people even as these traditions slowly fade away from life.

You can get traditional items like scented rice and nolen gur from Paushtik Life.

Rupsha Sengupta, Pursuing B.A. (English), Loreto College
( [email protected] )