Lohri Festival

   Today is Lohri festival and it is celebrate in northern part of India especially in Punjab with great zeal and zest. The origin of the Lohri can be traced back to the tale of Dulla Bhatti. By the end of the first week of January, small groups of boys ring the doorbell of houses and start chanting the Lohri songs related to Dulla Bhatti. In turn, the people give them popcorn, peanuts, crystal sugar, sesame seeds (til) or gur as well as money. Turning them back empty-handed is regarded inauspicious.
   Lohri marks the end of winter on the last day of Paush, and beginning of Magha (around January 12 and 13), when the sun changes its course. It is associated with the worship of the sun and fire and is observed by all communities with different names, as Lohri is an exclusively Punjabi festival.
   From where Lohri word came it is believe that it comes from Loi the name of Sant Kabir’s wife, as rural people in Punjab pronounce it as Lohi. Others believe that Lohri is derived from the word ‘loh’, which refers to a thick iron-coated tawa on which chapattis are cooked. According to another legend, Lohri and Holika were sisters among whom Holika was burnt in the fire and Lohri survived. Further, consuming til (sesame seeds) and rorhi (jaggery) is considered auspicious in this festival. So, the names of these tow items til and rorhi might have been combined to form tilorhi that must have been abbreviated to Lohri.
Lot of legends related to Lohri Festival found in the history books and below are well known as large number of believer of these legends –

• One of the interesting legends that lies between Gujaranwala and Sialkot, there was a thick forest known as rakh. The forest was the home of Dulla Bhatti, a dacoit who was considered as the Robin Hood of Punjab. This brave and generous man was always helpful to the needy. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Jahangir, a jealous Hindu spread a rumour that his niece was very beautiful and would do credit to the Muslim harem. On hearing this, the Mughal officers wanted to carry her forcibly. The girl’s father was extremely worried and sought the protection of Dulla Bhatti. Dulla at once got her married as a young Hindu boy at a simple ceremony in the forest. He lit the sacred fire in keeping with the Hindu custom. Since there was no priest to chant the holy mantras, he broke into a hilarious song composed extempore to add cheer to the occasion. This song is sung even today on the occasion -

“Sunder mundriye ho! Tera kaun vicaharaa ho! Dullah bhatti walla ho!
 Dullhe di dhee vyayae ho! Ser shakkar payee ho! Kudi da laal pathaka ho!
 Kudi da saalu paatta ho! Salu kaun samete! Chache choori kutti! zamidara lutti!
 Zamindaar sudhaye! bade bhole aaye! Ek bhola reh gaya!
 Sipahee pakad ke lai gaya! Sipahee ne mari eet!
 Sanoo de de lohri te teri jeeve jodi! Paheenve ro te phannve pit! ”

• Few days before Lohri, a bevy of village maidens assemble and visit the households to ask cow-dung cake. The girls gather round the house and chant: We've come, all the girls of the village! We've come to your courtyard! And so they go from house to house collecting cow-dung cakes till they have a veritable pile. They deposit all of them in one house and return to their homes. Their is a valid reason for girls to perform this ritual.Lohri is celebrated on the last day of the month of Pans to mark the end of winter. It is said that the forefathers formulated a sacred mantra which protected them from the cold. This mantra invoked the Sun God to send them so much heat that the winter cold would not affect them. And, in thanks-giving to the Sun God, they chanted this mantra round a fire on the last day of Pans. The Lohri fire is symbolic of the homage to the sun. A song is sung on this occasion:-

"Where have the shawls and braziers gone?
 To the golden mountain Where's the golden mountain gone?
 To the sun's ray Where has the sun's ray gone?
 To the sun Where's the sun gone?
 To the fire The fire burns, the ray warms
 The snows melt, the cold days have ended."
Our ancients believed that the flames of the fires they lit took their message to the sun, and that is why on the morning after Lohri, which is the first of the new month Magh, the sun's rays suddenly turn warm and take the chill out of people’s bones.

• There is also another version of Lohri. In ancient times, human beings lit fires to keep away flesh-eating animals and protect their habitations. Everyone contributed to this communal fire, for which young boys and girls collected firewood from the jungle. That is why even today when people burn cow-dung cakes it is teenagers who go around collecting them. The Lohri bonfire is symbolic of our old method of protecting ourselves as well as a form of fire worship. It is to the Lohri fire that couples pray for more children and parents for husbands for their unmarried daughters.

Celebration of Lohri –
      Ceremonies that go with the festival of Lohri usually comprises of making a small image of the Lohri goddess with gobar (cattle dung), decorating it, kindling a fire beneath it and chanting its praises. The final ceremony is to light a large bonfire at sunset, toss sesame seeds, gur, sugar-candy and rewaries in it, sit round it, sing, dance till the fire dies out. People take dying embers of the fire to their homes. In Punjabi village homes, fire is kept going round the clock by use of cow-dung cakes.
     As with passing time lot of changes’ can be seen in celebrating every festival of India and Lohri is not exception of this, but still traditional celebration of Lohri found in rural part of villages’.