LOHRI For Her!

Lohri

Lohri is celebrated every year on 13th of January, to mark winter solstice: the shortest day and the longest night of the year. People set up bonfires to keep warm during the harsh winters. A time when the sun heads back to the North and stays longer each day warming the ground for the new crops soon to be sown.

Lohri is a cultural festival and various customs and traditions attached to the festival, In Punjab & Haryana, Lohri signifies the harvesting of the crops.

Lohri does not have any religious significance in Sikhism.

Lohri celebration in Punjab

In the true spirit of Punjabi culture, people gather to meet friends and relatives, men and women perform Bhangra and Giddha (popular Punjabi folk dances) around a bonfire, throw sweets, puffed rice and popcorn into the flames, sing folk songs.

Lohri celebrates fertility and the joy of life. For many, Lohri is the celebration of the birth of a baby boy or the wedding of a son.

But the question is - why do parents celebrate Lohri only for the birth of baby boys ? It is just another example of how the baby boy is preferred over the baby girl. For centuries girls having been facing inequalities from the day they are born.

However, progression suggests that the discriminatory nature of the tradition should be eliminated or at the very least, developed to include women.

Lohri should be celebrated for the birth of any child regardless of their gender.

Those traditions that glorify male gender preference or encourage female neglect and perpetuate the view of a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter as a liability are not in keeping with the Sikh teachings.

We wish you a very happy LOHRI for all.

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