Reacha Blogging....: January 2012

Lohri Celebrations - 2012

A festival of Love and joy!!!!

Cutie pie Saarush....here..

Invitation here:

We invite you on the Lohri Celebration of our son Saarush Gupta on January 13, 2012. It’s a Punjabi festival and history is below. Kindly grace the occasion with your presence with family.

Venue: The Deck, Club House 1 , Malaysian Township, Near JNTU, Hyderabad

Time: 7 pm onwards (Bonfire followed By Dinner)

Highlights: FUN, FUN and fun…J

Vikas , Reacha and Saksham

Dadu from Dehradun were here to join us in Lohri celebration

Saksham and Saarush posing with Dadu here.

While Dadu and Dad decided to dress in formals, Saksh decided to put in traditional wear. And Saarush ofcourse in baby dress. So only Mom and Saksh were real Punjabi's. :)

Social Significance

Though Lohri festival has no religious significance but it holds a great social significance and is celebrated as a day of imparting social love to one and all. The festival of Lohri is meant to relieve people from worldly day to day routine, and make them relaxed, cheerful and happy. It is the time when people from all castes and social strata come together forgetting all past differences and grievances. Every year Lohri succeeds in bridging the social gap, as people visit homes, distribute sweets and greet each other.

Apart from this, the festival of Lohri is related to the harvest season. Harvest and fertility festivals a special significance for an agrarian country like India. Punjab being a predominantly agricultural state that prides itself on its food grain production, it is little wonder that Lohri is its one of the most significant festival. Thus, Lohri is symbolic of ripening of the crops and of copious harvest. Lohri instill sensitivity among the people towards their environment and culture. The fundamental theory behind the festival of Lohri is the sense of togetherness and the culturally rich legacy of the people of Punjab

The first Lohri of a new born
The first Lohri of a new born is a special occasion in which all friends and family join to celebrate. It is performed in the later part of the evening. Invitation cards can be sent for this function, depending on how one wants to celebrate. The event is observed at the parental home of the child in the presence of close relatives, friends and well-wishers. All the guest and relatives bring gifts for the baby and the new mother. The child's maternal grandparents give gifts to the child's paternal relatives also.

On the first Lohri of a new-born baby, the mother attired in heavy clothes and wearing a lot of jewelery with mehndi on her hands and feet sits with the baby in her lap. The family does the presentations. The mother-in-law and father-in-law of course give a large quantity of presents in the form of clothes and cash and others do so according to their relationship with the couple as also their capability and desire. The maternal grandparents also send gifts of clothes, sweets, rayveri, peanuts, popcorns and fruits.

Lohri is then celebrated with traditional dancing and singing around the bonfire. Logs of wood are piled together for a bonfire, and friends and relatives gather around it. They go around the fire three times, giving offerings of popcorns, peanuts, rayveri and sweets. Then, to the beat of the dhol (traditional Indian drum), people dance around the fire. Prasad of til, peanuts, rayveri, puffed rice, popcorn, gajak and sweets is distributed. This symbolizes a prayer to Agni for abundant crops and prosperity. An elaborate traditional Punjabi dinner is served, comprising shaahi paneer, ma ki daal, makki ki roti, sarson ka saag etc.

The whole event of Lohdi has songs as follows:

Sunder mundriye ho!
Tera kaun vicaharaa ho!
Dullah bhatti walla ho!
Dullhe di dhee vyayae ho!
Ser shakkar payee ho!
Kudi da laal pathaka ho!
Kudi da saalu paatta ho!
Salu kaun samete!
Chache choori kutti! zamidara lutti!
Zamindaar sudhaye!
bade bhole aaye!
Ek bhola reh gaya!
Sipahee far ke lai gaya!
Sipahee ne mari eet!
Sanoo de de lohri te teri jeeve jodi!
Bhaanvey ro te bhaanvey pit!

Our elders honoured the occassion with their presence.

Traditional Songs with Dholki was another attraction. Thanks to my dear friends for bringing liveliness to environment. After long, we heard and sang punjabi numbers. Some clicks here:

Fun with Kids and Adults Games