5 things your children should know about Lohri

Lohri, a festival of love and togetherness for Punjabi community, is celebrated on January 13th every year. Earlier, it was only famous in Punjab and some parts of Northern India but since the time Punjabis have moved to different corners of the world, the festival of bonfire is celebrated everywhere.

Here are 5 things we can teach our children about this festival.

Celebration

Somebody has rightly said if you want to learn how to celebrate, go to a Punjabi’s house. Lohri, is one of the festivals that is celebrated in a grand way. All the ladies come dressed in colourful Patiala suits and gents in kurta payjama and celebrate this occasion by lighting up a big bonfire.

Everybody throws popcorn, groundnut and rewri into the bonfire and distribute them amongst the guests as Prasad. If it's a couple’s first Lohri after marriage or if a child has taken a birth around the same time, their family members call for drum players and invite their neighbours and relatives to dance.

After the celebration, the whole gathering enjoys Lohri special meal, which is sarso ka saag (cooked mustard herbs) and makki di roti (multi-millet hand-rolled bread).

Togetherness

The idea of celebrating this festival is to burn the egos in the bonfire and forgive your enemies. Even if you don’t like to meet some of your friends quite often due to some misunderstandings, this is the best time to invite them home and start a new friendship by giving them a warm hug just like the sun heads back to the North on this day to stay warm for long hours.

Gratitude

In the history books, there is a Punjabi version of Robin Hood called Dulha Bhatti. He used to rob the rich and distribute the money among the poor. Once he adopted a girl who was getting kidnapped and treated her as his daughter.

After sometime, he got her married to a Hindu boy and presented her 1kg sugar as a marriage gift and became a hero of all the Punjabis. Since then, people take his name in Lohri songs and show their gratitude to him.

Thanking for the harvest

Around this time of the year, the fields of Punjab get filled with the golden harvest of wheat. Farmers living in Punjab have a big blast during this off period before they cut and gather the crops. They also perform a prayer to the God of fire, sing, dance and wear bright clothes.

They also get together in huge numbers to thank the Sun God and welcome the new year of hope and excitement. In Southern part of India, this harvest festival is also called Pongal.

Collecting items to celebrate Lohri

A bunch of kids form a group around 10-15 days prior to Lohri and go to their neighbourhood to collect branches of trees, grains and money so that they can lit up a long lasting bonfire. The collection gets divided amongst all the group members as their pocket money. All the kids also select a monitor who smear his face with ash and tied a rope around his waist.

People who don’t give enough first receive an ultimatum to either dig out more or the rope will be loosened. If the items given are still not enough, the group monitor enters the house to smash the clay pots and also shout out loud hukke te hukka tera baap bhukha.

What are your thoughts about Lohri?

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