Every year, on January 13, as the winter solstice passes, communities, especially Punjabi and Sikh, light bonfires across the world - US, Canada, India. It’s a merry time, to welcome the sun after a long winter, to reap a good harvest, to ring in the new year, and honor the ancient tradition of embracing new beginnings.
The festival of Lohri, with its blessed bonfires, bounty of food, folk songs and dance, is a time of renewal and revelry. It’s also the time to celebrate ‘first Lohri’, especially first lohri after marriage and first lohri of a newborn baby. Lohri celebrations for new weds and Lohri celebrations for newly borns, are symbolic events and observed with a lot of fanfare and fervour. Not only does lohri stand for fertility, it’s a festival of prosperity, of reaping the seeds of hard work and sowing new ones, promising good fortune and happiness.
Happy First Lohri: To the newly-weds
The first lohri after marriage and the first lohri of a new born baby are important events. Happy Lohri wishes are in for the happy first lohri, and so lohri celebration of the first lohri takes place on a grand scale, especially among the Punjab and Sikh community in US, Canada and India. It’s an important occasion for communities from Himachal, Rajasthan, Gujarat too. Celebrated a day before Makar Sakranti, on lohri, especially first lohri, families and friends get-together, light bonfires, and exchange gifts.
First year of marriage is a crucial year, for it’s the year a newly-wed couple start their journey together, and the events that fall in the first year - the first birthday after marriage, the first anniversary, the first Diwali, the first lohri - are celebrated with lot of love and blessings in order to bring the couple and their families closer. First lohri after marriage signifies renewal and fertility. Amidst the happy lohri wishes, the pulsating dhol beats, beautiful folk songs of Sundar Mundariye and lohri tappe, stories of Dulla Bhatti and endless rounds of rewari, moongphali, gachak, popcorn, gur, and dry fruits around the warm bonfire, the newly-weds and their families pray for fertility and a blessed married life.
The newly-weds, along with friends and family, walk around the lohri bonfire piled with wood and cow dung cakes at least three times, offering the fire til, puff rice, rewari, popcorn, as they wish and pray for happy new beginnings. The first lohri is symbolic of procreation and abundance, and a fresh start.
The ‘happy first lohri’ of the newlyweds is also filled with extensive and expensive gifting. The new bride is gifted with ‘heirlooms of love’ - with new clothes, jewellery, shagan, make-up, by her in-laws and parents. The new bride, including the women in her family and her friends, also apply mehendi, while the Sikh/Punjabi men tie colourful turbans. Everyone engages in song, dance, giddha and bhangra. The newly-wed couple too are showered with gifts and shagan by family and friends, and an elaborate traditional Punjabi dinner is served, comprising shaahi paneer, ma ki daal, makki ki roti, sarson ka saag etc.
Happy First Lohri: To the newly-born
Lavish festivities mark the first lohri of a newborn. It’s a joyous get together for a newly born baby not only brings families together, it is symbolic of a beautiful new beginning, an eventful journey and a connection to the world. Lohri celebrations are conducted with full energy for a newborn, with jewellery, gifts, shagan and new clothes for both the mother and child. Both, the maternal and paternal side, shower the new parents and baby with blessings and gift.
Nowadays, grand parties are held to celebrate the first lohri - of a newly wed couple and newborn. Invitations are sent out in advance, venues are booked, music and entertainment are arranged and folk singers too are engaged to add ‘chaar chaand’ to the occasion.
Conclusion
Lohri, especially the first lohri, pays homage to rituals, wisdom and traditions passed down from generations. It’s a custom of connecting people, of renewing energies, of harvesting heritage beyond bonfires, of passing on folk tales and songs of our culture, of reviving and restoring practises associated with the festival and celebrating this auspicious event joyously with the new members of the family.
