Why "TILGUL" is consumed during the Indian festival of Makar Sankranti?

Tilgul is a very colorful and excellent sesame candy made of sesame seeds and jaggery. Til means sesame seeds whereas gul means jaggery in Marathi/ Hindi. Sesame Seed is the seed of an annual herb, Sesamum indicum, which grows well in hot climates and is the most commonly produced seed. The yellowish, red, or black seeds are used in bread products, stir-fries, Jewish and Chinese confectionaries, and Sesame Seeds have a nut-like, mild flavor and is used in breads, candies, main dishes, as a garnish on pasta and vegetables, and for its oil content. Tilgul is an important dish which is being prepared during the Sankranti Hindu festival celebrated on the 14th January and also popularly known as the Kite festival.

Scientific Reason: Sesame (Til) is not just an eatable item, in Ayurveda it is considered to be an extremely beneficial and strong medicine. It is a rainy season crop, and is mainly of three kinds: 1. black sesame 2. white sesame 3. red sesame. Black sesame contains the best qualities with respect to nutrition. White sesame possesses medium qualities and red sesame has no qualities at all.The most important specialty of sesame is that is contains four rasas (flavors), hot, bitter, sweet and pungent. Sesame is hot in nature and is therefore used for preparing sweets in winter season. Different types of sweets like gajak, laddu, revadi, etc. are made of sesame during the winter and protect us from cold. The chances of catching cold reduce if we eat these sweets. Sesame laddu's are beneficial for those children who normally have the
problem of bed-wetting in winters. Children having this problem should be given one sesame laddu each in the morning and evening. The bed wetting problem and the urge to urinate at small intervals also gets cured. Hence it is especially consumed during the winter season of Makar Sankranti.

On the eve of this festival, every Maharashtrian family serves their guests with Tilgul and says “Tilgul ghiya, goad goad bola” which literally means “Eat Tilgul and talk all sweet”. Tilgul is a very simple sweet and easy to prepare. Does not need much of ingredients and is just a combination of sesame and jaggery which is offered to all the guests and neighbors visiting the house on the day of Sanskranti. Few people also add peanuts and dried coconut (copra) to this sweet. Since this festival is celebrated in mid winter ideally Tilgul recipe is a combination that helps keep the body warm due to these heat generating ingredients making it a healthy sweet to enjoy. Laddu made of til (sesame seeds) with jaggery is a speciality of this festival and most popularly made in the western Indian state of Maharashtra. As such sesame seeds are considered to be very auspicious during this festival and the maximum use of sesame seeds is made during this festival.