The festival hearkens as the cold peaks.
Popular conventional belief marks Makar Sankranti
as the time when the winter cold begins to lose its bite
A popular Punjabi saying goes
"Magh tilo til wadhe, tan Phaggan goda kadde"
From the month of Magh (marked by Makar sankranti on
14th January every year (This year on 15th)), the
days begin
to lengthen in the measure of a til (sesame seed), while
by the time the next month (Phagun) arrives mid february,
the days begin to acquire lengthening by the measure of a knee length.
Its a Punjabi rhetoric way of putting things.
Don't bother yourself over trying to make sense of it
We Punjabis are like that only
Lohri is the festival,
dedicated to the Fire God Agni,
that precedes this Month of Magh by a day and generally
is taken to fall on 13th January every year (this year too).
Festivals all over the world, also serve to mark the passage of time
and seasons, in addition to the celebration of Life in all its colours.
Lohri has the theme of providing succour and bringing joy and cheer
in winter, to offset the proverbial discontent that sets in places that
experience it in extreme.
Whether myths are based in facts or an attempt to preserve sanity,
Lohri
also has a romantic angle to it aka Robin Hoodesque of its
main character Dhulla Bhatti, a notorious dacoit,
who had the proverbial heart of gold that beat
for the downtrodden and the weak.
Having rescued girls from the clutches of zamindars
and other "Nobles"
He adopted them as his daughters and found suitable grooms
for them all when non would have them as they considered them
as sullied by lusts of the rich.
Impromptu were the celebrations and the marriage
that was conducted even as no priest would conduct the ceremony,
Dhulla Bhatti played the role of priest and married off the girls
himself to suitable
grooms.
The song that emerged from this impromptu celebration
is now sung all over Punjab when the young men go from house
to house to collect donations for lighting the bonfire and
distributing sweets made of sesame seeds and jaggery
(revdi, gachak) etc, while singing Dhulla Bhatti's song.
The celebrations acquire much more intensiy and gusto
if there has been a marriage celebration in the house
within the preceding year.
Here's the song that is sung
I wish a very Happy Lohri.
May the fires of Lohri burn away your flaws and
illuminate your Life
with the Blessings of the Divine Goodness
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