{"id":1311,"date":"2011-01-10T12:11:03","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T12:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/2011\/01\/lohri-2011\/"},"modified":"2020-07-16T17:22:45","modified_gmt":"2020-07-16T16:22:45","slug":"lohri-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/?p=1311","title":{"rendered":"Lohri 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>By Sanjay Parekh<br \/>\nNHSF Learning Team<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>13th January 2011 (Paush Sud 13 &#8211; Hindu calendar)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>Lohri is a two day harvest festival, celebrated in North India, predominantly by people living in Punjab and Haryana. As the sun enters the northern hemisphere or <em>Makar Rashi<\/em> (Capricorn star sign), Lohri marks the end of the winter and the start of spring. This transition is also celebrated as <em>Makar Sankranti<\/em> (see Makar Sankranti article) by Hindus in other regions of India.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>As a harvest festival, Lohri promotes gratitude towards God for his creation and provisions, and hence celebrating the joys of life. For farmers who depend on a fruitful harvest, Lohri is not a festival, but a celebration of life.<\/p>\n<h2>Celebrations &amp; Rituals<\/h2>\n<p>Following the harvest, farmers are able to rest and join in the celebrations, which are plentiful.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Children go from door to door singing songs and collecting Lohri, in the form of sweets, money etc<\/li>\n<li>The bonfire is the focal point of Lohri. People gather around them to meet their family and friends, and sing and dance to folk songs\n<ul>\n<li>Circling the bonfire and by throwing puffed rice, popcorn, sesame seeds and Lohri into the fire, people pay homage to <em>Agni<\/em>, the fire god<\/li>\n<li>They ask for their land to be blessed with abundance and prosperity and for them to have sons<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>People exchange gifts and share <em>prashad <\/em>(offerings to God). The <em>prashad <\/em>comprises of 5 main items:\n<ul>\n<li><em>Til <\/em>(sesame seeds)<\/li>\n<li><em>Gajak <\/em>(sesame snap-like sweet)<\/li>\n<li><em>Gur <\/em>(jaggery)<\/li>\n<li><em>Moonghphali <\/em>(peanuts)<\/li>\n<li><em>Phuliya <\/em>(popcorn)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The traditional meal served on this day is<em> Makki-ki-Roti<\/em> (multi-millet hand-rolled bread) and <em>Sarson-ka-Saag<\/em> (cooked mustard herbs)<\/li>\n<li>Traditional folk dancing, <em>Gidda<\/em>, and <em>Bhangra <\/em>are accompanied by the <em>Dhol <\/em>to mark the celebrations<\/li>\n<li>In the homes of a new-born son or a newlywed man, <em>Lohri <\/em>assumes greater significance:\n<ul>\n<li>Sweets made of molasses and sesame seed are sent to relatives and friends<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The day after <em>Lohri <\/em>is known as <em>Maghi<\/em>, signifying the beginning of the month of <em>Magh<\/em>, where celebrations are once again in full force:\n<ul>\n<li>The traditional dish of the day is <em>Kheer <\/em>cooked in sugar cane juice<\/li>\n<li>Fun fairs are held<\/li>\n<li>People go for a holy dip in sacred rivers<\/li>\n<li>People give generously to charity<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Origins: The Legend of Dulha Bhatti<\/h2>\n<p>Dulha Bhatti, a Punjabi version of Robin Hood, is the heroic icon that is associated with <em>Lohri<\/em>; he robbed the rich to help the poor.<\/p>\n<p>The tale of Dulha Bhatti tells of a man who rescued an innocent girl from her cruel abductors. He adopted her and even arranged her marriage as if she were his own daughter, restoring her pride. He lit a scared bonfire and as there was no priest to chant holy <em>mantras<\/em>, he broke into spontaneous song.<\/p>\n<p>Today, especially at Lohri, traditional folk songs are sung in honour of Dulha Bhatti\u2019s gallant deeds.<\/p>\n<h2>Lohri Factfile<\/h2>\n<table border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">Date:<\/td>\n<td><em><strong>13th January 2011<\/strong> (Paush 13 &#8211; Hindu Calendar)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">Popular in:<\/td>\n<td><em><strong>North India<\/strong> (predominantly Punjab and Haryana)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"text-align: right;\">Origins:<\/td>\n<td><em><strong>Harvest<\/strong>, marking the end of winter and start of spring<br \/>\n(The tale of Dulha Bhatti)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3570\" src=\"http:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-300x298.jpg\" alt=\"Lohri 2011 2\" width=\"300\" height=\"298\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-300x298.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-64x64.jpg 64w, https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-56x56.jpg 56w, https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-50x50.jpg 50w, https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2-65x65.jpg 65w, https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Lohri-2011-2.jpg 365w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Sanjay Parekh NHSF Learning Team &nbsp; 13th January 2011 (Paush Sud 13 &#8211; Hindu calendar) Lohri is a two day harvest festival, celebrated in North India, predominantly by people living in Punjab and Haryana. As the sun enters the northern hemisphere or Makar Rashi (Capricorn star sign), Lohri marks the end of the winter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-utsavs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nhsf.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}