Lohri is basically more than just a festival for Indians. It is a festival of prime importance for natives of Punjab as this festival symbolizes their love for celebrations and light-hearted flirtation. It is celebrated on the 13th of January every year and is the most prominent harvest festival of Punjab, the State more popularly known as the Breadbasket India.
Lohri is the festival that prompts people to be thankful to God’s provision and celebrate His creations and gifts to mankind. In Punjab, wheat is the major crop that is sown in the month of October and then harvested in the months of March or April. January is said to be the period of rest since after this month the crops mature and the farmers are ready to gather their year’s hard labour. As a result, the people or farmers residing in Punjab have a great sense of attachment to the festival of Lohri.
Lohri is celebrated as a harvest festival with spirit, joy, and enthusiasm and marks the culmination of the chilling winter. Punjabi women and men perform the Bhangra, Gidda on Punjabi Folk songs around a bonfire. On this festive day, enthusiastic children go from house to house singing Lohri songs and the elders oblige the children by offering them eatables as well as money.
As dusk settles in, logs of woods are collected for a bonfire where all the family members, relatives and friends gather around it. It is a ritual for people to go around the bonfire thrice, offering peanuts, sweets, rayveri and popcorns to the fire. Then, they break into dance around the fire on the beats of Dhol while prasad of til, puffed rice, gajak, popcorn and peanuts is distributed amongst the people.
Lohri is a propitious occasion to celebrate the arrival of a new bride in the family or for a newly born baby. Family members gather and host a feast that includes mouth watering winter cuisines of ‘Sarson ka Saag and Makki ki roti’ with a dessert made up of sugarcane juice and rice. The basic motive behind celebrating Lohri is to thank God for his protection and care.
On the whole, Lohri is a festival that signifies the jubilation at the onset of a bountiful harvest. The best feature about the festival is that it shows the festive spirit of Indians towards food, which they consider as God’s gift to humanity. Apart from celebrating the festival in their respective ways, people also tend to enjoy the fairs which are organized at various places.
Lohri is the festival that prompts people to be thankful to God’s provision and celebrate His creations and gifts to mankind. In Punjab, wheat is the major crop that is sown in the month of October and then harvested in the months of March or April. January is said to be the period of rest since after this month the crops mature and the farmers are ready to gather their year’s hard labour. As a result, the people or farmers residing in Punjab have a great sense of attachment to the festival of Lohri.
Lohri is celebrated as a harvest festival with spirit, joy, and enthusiasm and marks the culmination of the chilling winter. Punjabi women and men perform the Bhangra, Gidda on Punjabi Folk songs around a bonfire. On this festive day, enthusiastic children go from house to house singing Lohri songs and the elders oblige the children by offering them eatables as well as money.
As dusk settles in, logs of woods are collected for a bonfire where all the family members, relatives and friends gather around it. It is a ritual for people to go around the bonfire thrice, offering peanuts, sweets, rayveri and popcorns to the fire. Then, they break into dance around the fire on the beats of Dhol while prasad of til, puffed rice, gajak, popcorn and peanuts is distributed amongst the people.
Lohri is a propitious occasion to celebrate the arrival of a new bride in the family or for a newly born baby. Family members gather and host a feast that includes mouth watering winter cuisines of ‘Sarson ka Saag and Makki ki roti’ with a dessert made up of sugarcane juice and rice. The basic motive behind celebrating Lohri is to thank God for his protection and care.
On the whole, Lohri is a festival that signifies the jubilation at the onset of a bountiful harvest. The best feature about the festival is that it shows the festive spirit of Indians towards food, which they consider as God’s gift to humanity. Apart from celebrating the festival in their respective ways, people also tend to enjoy the fairs which are organized at various places.
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