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| People celebrating Lohri festival with their family and friends. |
Lohri is a popular winter Punjabi festival. This festival is celebrated with great pomp in North India,especially from the Hindu and Sikh family. Also known as Lohadi or Lal Loi. It is celebrated a day before Makar Sankranti. This festival is celebrated every year on 13th or 14th January. Lohri festival is considered to mark the end of winter. On this day, people light a fire outside their homes in open spaces with a lots of wood bundle and cow dung cakes that is prepared by their hand and offer sesame seeds, jaggery, gajak, rewdi and peanuts to the lit bonfire while doing Parikrama around it. They also harvest the crops and offer the Bhog made using the same to the fire.
Where is Lohri celebrated?
Lohri festival is celebrated with great pomp in Punjab, the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh,Especially from the Hindu and Sikh family.
How Lohri is celebrated?
A few days before celebrating Lohri, boys and girls collect wood and dung cakes by singing folk songs of 'Lohri'. The collected materials are burnt at the intersection or any open place in the locality. The people of the village and locality circumambulate the fire. People sing and dance folk songs while circumambulating the fire. On the day of Lohri people eat rewdi, peanuts, lava etc. In this festival, married daughters are sent clothes, sweets, revadi, fruits etc. from the mother's house.
Why is Lohri celebrated?
Lohri is a special festival which is related to the sowing and harvesting of crops. It also celebrates the arrival of warmer weather because after Makar Sankranti, a day after Lohri, the nights get shorter, and the days get longer. The bonfire, lit during the celebrations of this festival, represents the same idea on Lohri, people worship the new crop, light a fire outside their homes, express their gratitude to the Sun God (Surya Devta) and Fire God (Agni Devta), and wish for good crop production in the upcoming year.
Government Holiday:-
The festival of Lohri is a one-day official holiday in Punjab, the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.
Conclusion:-
Lohri is a great festival, which brings a feeling of unity and brotherhood among all. Everyone thanks God for giving happiness and prosperous life and wish for good crop production in the upcoming year.
