Lohri is one of the major festivals in Punjab and Haryana region, however, it is celebrated in the entire North Indian belt that makes it one of the most popular festivals in India. Celebrated with love and ardor, the festival of Lohri is observed to pay reverence to the winter solstice. However, it is largely known as the harvest festival of Punjab, and hence, it has a great significance for the people of Punjab.
In the Punjab region, wheat is considered as the main crop; in the month of October, crops are sown by the farmers that are harvested somewhere in March or April. In the month of January, the lands get filled up with the crops of wheat with a promise of golden harvest. During this time, the beautiful Lohri festival is observed before the harvesting process of the crop.
1. When is Lohri?
Lohri Festival is celebrated on 13 January every year. Festival of Lohri is successful by Makar Sankranti - a popular festival in central India. There is a rich history of the festival, and hence, various legends are associated with the celebration of Lohri. The first one goes like this:
The chanting of this mantra made Sun God hear their prayers and as a result of that, he showered a large amount of heat on them ensuring to lessen the effect of winter cold. In order to thank the god, people started chanting the mantra round a fire, and thus, came the origin of Lohri. In this legend, the fire of which the people take rounds of commemorates the Sun God.
Another folklore says that, in the ancient times, the people used to light the fire in order to protect themselves from the wild animals. According to them, this also protected their habitats. The fire used to be a communal one, in which everyone used to take part; the young boys and girls were asked to collect the woods from the jungle, and even now, it is a tradition where young ones go around to collect the cow dung for the fire of Lohri. In this legend, the fire is perceived as our protector. The ritual of couples praying for the child and parents praying for their unmarried daughters for a husband derived from this folk tale.
However, the last legend tells the story which dates back to the reign of Akbar. The story goes like this, in Punjab, there was a man, named Dulla Bhatti a Muslim highway robber who lived in Punjab during the reign of Emperor Akbar. Despite being a robber, the man held a good reputation in the region. The reason for his good reputation was that he used to rescue Hindu girls from being a victim of human trafficking. Not just this, the man also arranged the marriages of the saved girls. His such great manoeuvre, made him famous in the whole region of Punjab. To commemorate this story, the songs are sung by the boys with an exclamation of ‘ho’, after each line. So, here present a few lines of one of those popular songs sung on the eve of Lohri.
Sunder mundriye ho!
Tera kaun vicharaa ho!
Dullah Bhatti walla ho!
Dullhe di dhee vyayae ho!
Ser shakkar payee ho!
Kudi da laal pathaka ho!
Kudi da saalu paata ho!
Salu kaun samete!
Chache choori kutti!
zamidara lutti!
Zamindaar sudhaye!
Bade bhole aaye!
Ek bhola reh gaya!
Sipahee far ke lai gaya!
Sipahee ne mari itt!
Sanoo de de Lohri, te teri jeeve jodi!
(Cry or howl!)
Bhaanvey ro te bhaanvey pitt!
Translation
Beautiful girl
Who will think about you
Dulla of the Bhatti clan will
Dulla’s daughter got married
He gave one ser of sugar!
The girl is wearing a red suit!
But her shawl is torn!
Who will stitch her shawl ?!
The uncle made choori!
The landlords looted it!
Landlords are beaten up!
Lots of simple-headed boys came!
One simpleton got left behind! T
soldier arrested him!
The soldier hit him with a brick!
(Cry or howl)!
.Give us Lohri, long live your pair (to a married couple)!
Whether you cry, or bang your head later!
2.Why lohri Celebrated?
The main attraction of Lohri is the bonfire, which commemorates the Sun God, the harvest season, and the story of Dulla Bhatti. On eve of the Lohri, people arrange a bonfire in their front yard. Gathering around the bonfire, people celebrate the festival by singing and dancing on the folk songs.
3. How Lohri Celebrated?
A puja (prayer) is also observed at the place of the bonfire. However, the prasad (holy offering) of the puja consists of six food items, revri & gajak (sweets made up of sesame seeds), gur (jaggery), moongphali (peanut), phuliya (puffed rice) and popcorn. Another ritual says that people have to perform parikrama (taking rounds) of the bonfire. With all love and ardour, greetings are also exchanged with friends and families.
To show their love for the festival, bhangra is also performed by the men. Whereas, female perform the gidda dance. Apart from this, various folk songs are also observed during the Lohri celebration in India. In Punjab, during the time of this festival, various fairs are also organized that are marks the footfall of numerous people from far and wide. Races, wrestling bouts, singing, acrobatics, games, and food stalls are the major highlights of these festivals
4. Important Things to Know about Lohri
• For Punjabi farmers, the festival of Lohri marks the beginning of a new year as the festival signifies the onset of the harvest season.
• In Punjab, there is custom to eat the signature food of the state, which is sarson da saag and makki di roti.
• Days before the festival, people start giving gifts to their friends and families. The gifts include jaggery, dry fruits, a basket of fruits, gajak, revri, sweets, and the sagan. Gifts are given to the newlywed couples as a token of love. There is also a tradition where the bride (as a new member of the family) performs gidda around the fire.
• Since, the celebration of the Lohri is observed with the whole family, relatives and neighbors, it gives a special significance to the word ‘love’.
• The festival is celebrated by farmers to welcome the harvest season which signifies the value of their livelihood, which is agriculture.
• By exchanging gifts and prasads with friends, families, and neighbors the festival also focuses on 'Unity in Diversity'.
5. The Reason behind Lohri Celebration
People have many beliefs regarding the celebration of Lohri festival in Punjab, some of which include:
Lohri is derived from the word "Loi" who was the wife of the great saint Kabir.
While some people believe that it originated from the word "Loh" which is a device used for making chapattis.
In some parts of the state people also believe that the festival's name originated from the name of the sister of Holika, who survived the fire while Holika herself died.
The festival is celebrated in various parts of the country with different names and people wait for this day desperately. In Andhra Pradesh it is celebrated with the name Bhogi. Similar in Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala the festival is celebrated with the names Magha Bihu, Pongal and Tai Pongal respectively. On the other hand people of UP and Bihar call it the celebration of Makar Sankranti.
6. How Is Lohri Celebrated?
Indian peoples celebrate Lohri with lots of happiness. The festival of Lohri is one of the festivals that is celebrated in association with his family and spend together some quality time. On Lohri, people go out with their family and friends and distribute sweets. This festival is very important for farmers as it is considered to be a harvest season. People celebrate this festival by lighting a bonfire and dancing and singing. While singing and dancing around the fire, people throw gur, rewaries, sugar-candies and sesame seeds.
On this day, in evening a pooja ceremony is held in every household. This is the time when people get blessing from the almighty by doing parikrama and offering Pooja. According to customs, on this day people eat foods like mustard greens(sarson Ka saag), jaggery, gajak, sesame(til), peanuts etc.People wear new clothes and perform Bhangra on this day which is the dance of Punjab. For farmers, this day marks the beginning of a new financial year. On this day newlywed brides gets gifts from all the family members and they are supposed to wear all the ornaments that brides usually wear on their marriage day.
7. Modern day Lohri Celebration
Earlier people used to celebrate Lohri by gajak gifting to each other, whereas now the contemporary world is slowly changing and people prefer to gift chocolate and cake instead of gajak. People have become more aware of the increasing threat to the environment with increasing pollution agents and prefer not to burn bonfire. People avoid cutting more trees to burn bonfire on Lohri. Instead, they celebrate Lohri by planting more and more trees so that they can contribute to environmental protection in the long run.
So that was all about the harvest festival of Lohri. Hope you liked the blog as much as I liked writing it for you.
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