ICCC Weekly Newsletter

14 JANUARY

Image: Sanjeev Malik

DID YOU KNOW?

India has two types of calendars — the solar calendar and the lunisolar calendar. Like the Roman (Julian) calendar, the Indian national calendar is a solar calendar with 365 days [with a slightly different way to account for the leap years]. Thus, the calendar starts every year on March 21/22, the Makara Sankranti [Pongal] falls every year on Jan 14/15, the Mesha Sankranti [Vishu] falls every year on April 14/15, and the Mithuna Sankranti [Raja] on June 14/15

Sankranthi (or rather Makar Sankranthi) as the names suggest is a movement of the Sun into the constellation of Makara (know as Capricorn in English). So, it is not related to the movement of the moon. It would have correlated to the dates on the Hindu calendar only if it was related to the movements of the moon. Pongal is a harvest festival, which again is related to the seasons that are dependant on the Sun rather than the movements of the moon.

By the way, there are many festivals that fall on similar dates on the English Calendar, like the festivals of Vishu, Baisakhi, and others fall around the same dates. Again, these are based on solar movements hence matching with English Calendar.

President’s View

RIPUDAMAN SINGH DHILLON

Hope springs eternal

The appointment of Cameron MacKay as Canada’s High Commissioner to India is a welcome announcement. Along with MacKay, new Consul Generals have been appointed in Mumbai, Chandigarh, and Bengaluru. Global Affairs Canada made the announcement on 22 December. A day later, Ministers Mary Ng and Piyush Goyal held talks to discuss bilateral trade ties.

Canada’s new thrust on the Indo-Pacific front has been gathering momentum, with…