Tilgul is a colourful sesame candy coated with sesame seeds; in Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

 people exchange tilgul on Sankranti

Sankranti

Sankranthi means transmigration of Sun from one Rāshi to the other. Hence there are 12 such Sankrantis in all.* Makara Sankaranti: or Sankranti or Sankranthi marks the transition of...

, a Hindu

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

 festival celebrated on 14 January.
The sweet is a mixture of seasame seed (called "Til" in Marathi

Marathi language

Marathi is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people of western and central India. It is the official language of the state of Maharashtra. There are over 68 million fluent speakers worldwide. Marathi has the fourth largest number of native speakers in India and is the fifteenth most...

/Hindi

Hindi

Standard Hindi, or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi, also known as Manak Hindi , High Hindi, Nagari Hindi, and Literary Hindi, is a standardized and sanskritized register of the Hindustani language derived from the Khariboli dialect of Delhi...

) and jaggery

Jaggery

Jaggery is a traditional unrefined non-centrifugal whole cane sugar consumed in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It is a concentrated product of cane juice without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can vary from golden brown to dark brown in color...

(called "Gul" in Marathi/Hindi) and hence the name. On the Sankranti eve, families serve their guests with Tilgul while saying "Tilgul kha, goad goad bola" which literally means "Eat Tilgul and talk all sweet".