Bengaluru: In Karnataka, Makar Sankranti is popularly known as Yellu Bella festival. It is also the Suggi or harvest festival for farmers. On this auspicious day, girls wear new clothes to visit near and dear ones with a Sankranti offering in a plate and exchange the same with other families. This ritual is called “Ellu Birodhu.” Here the plate would normally contain “Ellu” (white sesame seeds) mixed with fried groundnuts, neatly cut dry coconut and fine cut bella (jaggery). The mixture is called “Ellu-Bella” .
Markets in Bengaluru are geared up for the festival where sugarcane, jaggery, dry coconuts, plantains and plantain leaves are selling like hot cakes.
