Lohri: A young, yet primeval festival.
A Punjabi Festival - my favorite of the year
Lohri: A Punjabi, midwinter, agrarian festival.
The Meaning.
It was Lohri yesterday, on the 13th of January.
Most Westerners, including those of Indian origin, mispronounce the words ‘Punjab’ and ‘Punjabi.’
They pronounce the ‘Pun’ as ‘Poon,’ which is incorrect. The ‘un’ is pronounced the same way as ‘un’ in ‘unable.’ The word comes from the root that means ‘five,' and ‘ab’comes from the Persian root that means ‘five.’ The full word means ‘The Land of the Five Rivers,’ and a Punjabi is a person, or thing, that comes from the state that we call ‘Punjab.’
‘Lohri’ is a Punjabi festival, one that many people would call pagan and sneer at. But I don’t care, and recently, I surprised many people by telling them that Lohri is my favorite festival.
Lohri is a winter solstice and an agrarian festival. The festival is agrarian, celebrating the harvest of the winter ‘rabi’ crop. Therefore, we bring food and energy to the home. From Lohri, winter begins to recede, and you can start to smell spring around the corner. It is a time for renewal.
Origins.
No one knows when Lohri originated, but it seems to be about five hundred years old in its current form. Yet the practice of circumambulating a huge community bonfire three times, feeding it with groundnuts and jaggery, and wishing well for the family and community is primal.
Then, we normally gather round and eat dinner (sarson saag and makki ki roti - cannot translate, sorry) together, before returning home.
There’s always a story
There is a popular Lohri song, ‘Sundar Mundriye’, based on the exploits of one young man, Dulla Bhatti, who lived during Akbar’s reign (1556-1605 CE), and was a kind of Punjabi Robin Hood. The legend also speaks to the tradition of Punjabi resistance to any sort of rule, and their desire for independence.
Why do I love Lohri?
One, unlike Diwali, which has become a commercial festival like Christmas in Delhi, Lohri remains very primal. To me, it harks back to an ancient time when our ancestors probably sat around a fire, gazing at the stars, keeping each other warm, sharing stories, and protecting themselves from predators.
While Lohri has, no doubt, moved far from its roots, there is something about its simplicity and brevity that keeps the festival relatively pure.
I believe that Lohri speaks to the essence of humanity and the human spirit and, can only wish that the festival retains its purity in the centuries ahead.