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

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.