Lohri 2024: Here's How To Celebrate The Harvest Festival With Your Family

Lohri 2024: Lohri is a celebration of life and people love to sing and dance around the fire, throw peanuts, puffed rice, popcorn and rewari into the flames.

Lohri is celebrated in parts of northern India, especially Punjab and neighbouring states, to mark the beginning of the harvest season. This year the festival falls on January 14, Sunday. 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. Celebrations are extra special in households where there has recently been a marriage or a birth. Foods such as jaggery, gachak and rewri are central to Lohri, and so are peanuts, popcorn and til. 

Lohri serves as an opportunity to bring people together, spread joy, and celebrate the harvest season. It is also a day to remember the Sun deity or the goddess of Lohri. The five main items, which are a must during Lohri as prasad to be offered to the gods are til or sesame and items made with it, gajak or sweets made of peanuts and jaggery, moongphali or peanuts, and phuliya or popcorn.

Bonfires are central to Lohri and the celebrations revolve around it, adding warmth and cheer in the cold winter night. Treats like peanuts, gajak, popcorn, and rewari are distributed which are then offered to the fire God. Special programmes are organised where people sing traditional Lohri songs, dance, and interact. Men and women do jhoomer, bhangra, kikli, and giddha to celebrate the festival. There is also a tradition to eat "til rice" on Lohri. It is made with jaggery, rice, and sesame seeds.