Happy Lohri 2022: Significance, delicacies and wishes for the festival

Happy Lohri 2022: Families come together to light bonfires and exchange gifts and food on Lohri.

Lohri Gurmukhi or just Lohri is a popular winter festival which marks the end of the season and the beginning of warmer weather. This harvest festival of Punjab is celebrated with great enthusiasm every year. On Lohri, families come together to light bonfires, exchange gifts and feast. This year, Lohri is being celebrated on January 13, Thursday.

Singing and dancing form an intrinsic part of the celebrations. People wear their brightest clothes and come to dance the bhangra and gidda to the beat of the dhol. Punjabi songs are sung, and everybody rejoices. Sarson da saag and makki di roti is usually served at a Lohri dinner. The festival is a great occasion that holds great importance for farmers. However, people residing in urban areas also celebrate Lohri, as this festival provides the opportunity to interact with family and friends.

Celebrations are extra special in households where there has recently been a marriage or a birth.

Food items such as jaggery, gachak and rewri are central to Lohri, and so are peanuts, popcorn and sesame. In Punjab, the festival is marked by eating sheaves of roasted corn from the new harvest. The January sugarcane harvest is also celebrated in the Lohri festival. Sugarcane products such as gurh and gachak are central to Lohri celebrations, as are nuts which are harvested in January.

While Lohri is primarily a Punjabi festival, it is celebrated by many people across the country who light bonfires and dance to welcome longer days after the winter solstice.

The lighting of bonfire during this winter festival is an ancient tradition. It was followed to symbolise the return of longer days.

Here are some Lohri wishes to share with family and friends:

May the bonfire you light on Lohri fill your life with warmth and brightness.

On this auspicious festival of Lohri, I wish you and your family peace and prosperity. Happy Lohri!

Happy Lohri. May the coming year be as bright and joyful as this festival.

May the bonfire of Lohri burn away your sorrows

May you start this year anew with luck by your side

Happy Lohri to you and your loved ones

Sending the warmest wishes of Lohri to you and your family! May almighty keep showering his blessings upon you. Have lots of sweets in the warmth of a bonfire.

Wishing this harvest season lights up your face with a bright smile, and you enjoy the year with a bang. Happy Lohri!