Thousands of people in the city, including women and children, took a holy dip in Godavari river and the holy pond of Ramkund, on the occasion of Makar Sankranti, on Sunday.The devotees visited Kalaram and Kapaleshwar temples for taking blessings of Lord Rama and Shiva. People exchanged til-gur, saying ''Til gul ghya ani god bola''. Makar Sankranti is a special day, when married women are invited for a get-together called 'haldi-kunku' and given gifts and til gur.

It is one of the most colourful events of the year.Youth and children purchased and flew kites on Friday.On this auspicious day, several children were on the street to grab kites sailing in the air, cut after losing in a duel.The festival was also celebrated in various parts of the district, including Yeola and Malegaon. The kite flying with its razor sharp manja was, however, under the scanner of police. Police in Nashik had initiated a drive to curb the use of banned nylon and glass-coated manja, 15 days prior to the festival. Despite the drive, traders sold the nylon thread, which was much in demand.

Every year Makar Sankranti is celebrated in the month of January to mark the winter solstice. This festival is dedicated to the Hindu religious sun god Surya. This significance of Surya is traceable to the Vedic texts, particularly the Gayatri Mantra, a sacred hymn of Hinduism found in its scripture named the Rigveda.

Makara Sankranti is regarded as important for spiritual practices and accordingly, people take a holy dip in rivers, especially Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri. The bathing is believed to result in merit or absolution of past sins. They also pray to the sun and thank for their successes and prosperity. A shared cultural practices found amongst Hindus of various parts of India is making sticky, bound sweets particularly from sesame (til) and a sugar base such as jaggery (gud, gur). This type of sweet is a symbolism for being together in peace and joyfulness, despite the uniqueness and differences between individuals. For most parts of India, this period is a part of early stages of the Rabi crop and agricultural cycle, where crops have been sown and the hard work in the fields is mostly over. The time thus signifies a period of socializing and families enjoying each other's company, taking care of the cattle, and celebrating around bonfires, in Maharashtra the festival is celebrated by flying kites.

Makara Sankranti is an important pan-Indian solar festival, known by different names though observed on the same date, sometimes for multiple dates around the Makar Sankranti. It is known as Pedda Panduga in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Makara Sankranti in Karnataka and Maharashtra, Pongal in Tamil Nadu, Magh Bihu in Assam, Magha Mela in parts of central and north India, as Makar Sankranti in the west, Maghara Valaku in Kerala, and by other names.

Kumbh Mela is one of the hallowed festivals of India and is organized at a big scale. According to the scholars, it is believed that when Gods and demons were having fight over the nectar then Lord Vishnu flew away with the pot of nectar spilling drops of nectar at four different places; where we celebrate Kumbh melas, those places were Hardwar, Nasik, Ujjain and Prayag.

The celebration of Kumbh Mela depends on the position of Jupiter (Brhaspati) and the sun. When the Sun is in Aries (Mesh Rashi) and Jupiter in Aquarius, it is celebrated in Haridwar. When Jupiter is in Taurus (Vrishabha Rashi) and the Sun is in Capricorn (Makar Rashi), then kumbh is celebrated at Prayag. Mela is celebrated in Ujjain when Jupiter and the Sun are in Scorpio (Vrishchik Rashi). It is said that when the Jupiter and the sun falls on the zodiac sign, Leo; then Kumbh Mela is celebrated at Trimbakeshwar in Nasik. Kumbh Mela is celebrated with great pomp and show, crowd gets crazy and scenario of the fare is breath taking. Devotees congregate and perform several rites and rituals. Numbers of ceremonies are performed like religious discussions, devotional singing, mass feeding of holy men and women and poor, out of which bathing is considered as most sacred and takes place at the bank of river in every town, where Kumbh is celebrated.

Kumbh Mela is celebrated at Trimbakeshwar in Nashik which is in Maharashtra. Trimbakeshwar is a holy town of Nasik as one of the twelve Jyotirlingas, Triyambakeshwar Jyotirlinga temple is situated there. Kumbh Mela in Nasik is celebrated once in every twelve years and is known as Sinhasta.

According to mythological stories and verses of epics the drops of Amrita or nectar fell at the Godavari River in Nasik when Lord Vishnu flew from earth to heaven after Samudra Manthan. That is the reason why the place is considered sacred and is of great importance amongst Hindus. In the lunar month of Magh when Sun and Jupiter are in Leo (Singh Rashi) zodiac sign Kumbh Mela is held at Trimbakeshwar in Nasik. The fair is celebrated with full passion and keenness in Nasik as one can evidence and about millions of pilgrims come here to wash away their sins in the holy river, Godavari. The two bathing ghats, Ramkund and Kushavarta holy reservoirs appreciate faith and belief of thousands of sadhus, holy men and millions of pilgrims as they take dips in holy River Godavari on the specific date and at specific time. As the administration is aware of the dates they start arranging accommodation facilities for the pilgrims who comes from all walks of life. The panorama of this festive season is worth watching.

Ramnavmi Rathayatra which Nashik City mainly knows as Trith shetra, is the place where Lord Ramachandra stayed for more than 12 years in the area known as Panchavati. The Janmotsava of Lord Ramachandra begins from the first day of Chaitra till the Chaitra Poornima, spanning 15 days. The Janmotsava takes place exactly at 1200hrs (in the noon) when thousands of piligrims are present on this holy occassion. This janmotsav is celebrated by the Sansthan Shri Kalaram Mandir, Panchavati every year. Another attraction of Janmotsava is on the 2nd day of Navmi when the Rathyatra starts from the east door of the temple moving through the city of Nashik. The Rathyathra starts at about 4.30 p.m. with the Shri Ramrath and Shri Garuda Rath. We are aware that Shri Hanuman was the parmabhakt (foremost disciple) of Lord Rama and that is why the the first rath in the fair is Garud Rath. The second Rath is that of Lord Rama. The Ramrath is a heavy Rath and was prepared by Shrimant Peshwan in the year 1785 and handedover to Sardar, Sardar Raste Rs.200/- was granted per year to look after the lighting, repairing and other expenses incurred at the time of Utsava, which, with the passage of time has increased.

The management of the Ramrath was handed over to Raste Akhada, Panchavati. The volunteers of this Akhada took full responsibility of this Rath. The other Rath i.e., Garud rath belongs to Sansthan Shri Kalaram Mandir. This Rath is slightly smaller than Ramrath both by height and weight. The management of this Garud Rath on the particular day of the Rath Yatra is handled by Shri Ahilya Ram Vayam Shala. The volunteers and students of the Ahilya Ram Vayam Shala help out on this auspicious day. Theleadership of the Garud Rath was given to Late Digambar Dixit till the year 1940. Under his able guidance the Rath Yatra was conducted in a disciplined manner without any incident, except once whenhe had to save the life of one of the piligrims. It resulted in the wheel of the Chariot going through his thigh. He succumbed to his injuries after 5 days. The leadership was then passed on to his elder son Baburaoji Dixit in the year 1941. Under the guidance of Late Baburaoji Dixit the Rath Yatra was disciplined. In 1991, After his death charge has been taken by Shri Govindrao Dixit. The Rathyathra is made up of 5 links, 1st is the bullock cart of Sanai/Choughada, followed by the Palkhi of Shri Ramachandra, Pujadhikari, Garudarath and finally the Ramrath.

The Pujadhikari walks all the way during the Rath Yatra by facing towards the Rath with folded hands. He fasts on all the days from day one of the Chaitra to the Rath yatra. Both the Raths are pulled by the Rath sevakas who belong to different institutes with the help of a heavy rope. The Raths have a big wooden round rod known as Dhuri. The intention of a Rathyatra is that the pilgrims who could not witness the event in the temple will be able to see the splendour at the time of the Rath Yatra. There are thousands of piligrims who attend this auspicious Rath Yatra every year. There is a Ganga Snan (bathing of the idol of Lord Ram in the holy water of the Ganges) given to Shri Ramchandra while the Rath Yatra halts for a period of two hours at the holy Godavari, named as Avabrutha Snan. This has been made festive at the holy Ramghat by bursting crackers supported by olourful lightings. The Rath Yatra ends late in the night at about 2′ O-clock at the same place from when it began.