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. The questions like When it
began and why is lost in the mists of antiquity. The origin of Lohri is related to the central character of most Lohri
songs is Dulla Bhatti, a Muslim highway robber who lived in Punjab
during the reign of Emperor Akbar. Besides robbing the rich, he rescued
Hindu girls being forcibly taken to be sold in slave market of the
Middle East. He arranged their marriages to Hindu boys with Hindu
rituals and provided them with dowries. Understandably, though a bandit,
he became a hero of all Punjabis. So every other Lohri song has words to
express gratitude to Dulla Bhatti.
Some believe that Lohri has derived its name from Loi, the wife
of Sant Kabir, for in rural Punjab Lohri is pronounced as
Lohi. Others believe that Lohri comes from the word 'loh', a thick
iron sheet tawa used for baking chapattis for community feasts. Another
legend says that Holika and Lohri were sisters. While the former
perished in the Holi fire, the latter survived. Eating of til (sesame
seeds) and rorhi (jaggery) is considered to be essential on this day.
Perhaps the words til and rorhi merged to become tilorhi, which
eventually got shortened to 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.
Sundar Mundariye'.
Tera kaun vichara..ho
Dulla Bhatti walla..ho
Dulle ne ti viahiyi..ho
Saer Shakar payi..ho
Kudi de boje payee..ho
Shallu kaun samete..ho
Chacha galee dese..ho
Chache choori kutee..ho
Zamindaran lutee..ho
Zamindara sidaye..ho
Gin-gin pole layee..ho
Ik pola reh gaya..ho
Sipahi farh ke lei gaya..ho
Aakho mundao taana..
Mukai da dana..
Aana lei ke jana.....
"Mungfli
di khushbu te gurh di mithaas, Makki di roti te sarso da saag, Dil di
khushi te aapneya da pyar, Mubarak hove tone LOHRI KA TYOHAR."
Makar Sankranthi, or Sankranti is a popular Indian festival. It is
celebrated in many parts of the country and also in some other parts of
the world with great zeal and enthusiasm. It is a harvest festival
which is basically celebrated in the Hindu communities. In Indian, the
states of Bihar, Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and
Tamil Nadu celebrate the festival with great fervor and gusto.In Tamil
Nadu the festival is known as Pongal, in Assam as Bhogali Bihu, in
Punjab, as Lohiri, in Gujarat and Rajasthan, as Uttararayan. Outside
India, the festival is given due importance in the countries like Nepal
where it is celebrated as Maghe Sakrati or Maghi, in Thailand where it
is named as Songkran and in Myanmar where it is called Thingyan. The festival of Makar Sankranti marks the day when the sun begins its
northward journey and enters the sign of Makar (the Capricorn) from the
Tropic of Cancer. It is like the movement of sun from Dakshinayana
(south) to Uttarayana (north) hemisphere. It is the one of the few
chosen Indian Hindu festivals which has a fixed date. This day falls on
the 14th of January every year according to the Hindu Solar Calendar.
The festival is considered to be a day from where onwards all the
auspicious ritualistic ceremonies can be solemnized in any Hindu
family. This is thus considered as the holy phase of transition.
Shankranti means transmigration of Sun from one zodiac in Indian
astrology to the other. As per Hindu customary beliefs, there are 12
such Sankrantis in all. But the festival is celebrated only on the
occasion of Makara Sankaranti i.e. the transition of the Sun from
Sagittarius ('Dhanu' Rashi ) to Capricorn('Makara' Rasi). In this case,
the zodiacs are measured sidereally, and not tropically, in order to
account the Earth's precession. That is why the festival falls about 21
days after the tropical winter solstice which lies between December 20
and 23rd. Here the sun marks the starting of Uttarayana, which means
northern progress of Sun. Makar Sankranti holds special significance as on this day the solar
calendar measures the day and night to be of equal durations on this
day. From this day onwards, the days become longer and warmer. It is
the day when people of northern hemisphere, the northward path of the
sun marks the period when the sun is getting closer to them. The
importance of the day was signified by the Aryans who started
celebrating this day as an auspicious day for festivities. The reason
behind this may be the fact that it marked the onset of harvest season.
Even in the epic of Mahabharata, an episode mentions how people in that
era also considered the day as auspicious. Bhishma Pitamah even after
being wounded in the Mahabharata war lingered on till Uttarayan set in,
so that he can attain heavenly abode in auspiciuous times. It is said
that death on this day to brings Moksha or salvation to the deceased.
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yr1vFBMKklM[/YOUTUBE] Tan mein masti, maan mein umang, chalo akash mein dale rang, ho jaye sab sang-sang, Udayye PATANG! HAPPY MAKAR SANKRANTA!