Lohri: A Festival celebrated every year with new zeal and enthusiasm!

Lohri is a popular festival, celebrated by Punjabi people of the Indian subcontinent, particularly of Hindu and Sikh faith. The festival of Lohri which marks the end of winters is celebrated across most Northern parts of India, especially in Punjab and Haryana. Lohri is celebrated every year on 13th January, a day before Makar Sankranti (another religious festival), in the month of Magh (a season as per the Sikh calendar). Being one of the harvest festivals of Punjab, Lohri holds great significance for the people residing in the state and even for many other states. The festival of Lohri is considered to be extremely auspicious, as it marks the entry of the Sun into the ‘Makar Raashi’ (Sun Sign: Capricorn).

 Over time, people have associated Lohri to the tale of Dulla Bhatti. The origin of the festival is related to the central character of most popular Lohri song i.e., Dulla Bhatti, a robber who lived in Punjab during the reign of Emperor Akbar. Although he was a robber, he used to release Hindu girls who were forcibly sold in the slave markets of Middle East. After rescuing those girls, he used to arrange their marriages to Hindu boys. This noble cause changed his image from a being a dacoit into a hero. Hence, every Lohri song has words to express thankfulness to Dulla Bhatti.

Traditional Celebrations 

In the morning, little boys and girls go door-to-door singing the famous song related to this festival i.e. ‘Sundar mundariye hoye’, to collect the funds for the community bonfires, to be lit-up in the evening. Huge wooden logs are arranged together for a bonfire. Once the bonfire is lit, people take three rounds of the bonfire and pray to the Agni (Fire As God) for abundant crops and prosperity, simultaneously putting in popcorns, peanuts and rayveris(a sweet). Once the prayers are over, the Prasad (SACRAMENT) of til (SESAME Seeds), peanuts, rayveri, puffed rice, popcorns, gajak(jiggery and peanuts caramelized) and sweets is distributed. Following this, people perform the traditional Punjabi folk dances- Bhangra and Giddha around the bonfire.

Some tips to celebrate 

• Tell your children the story behind celebrating Lohri.
• Dress-up your children in new traditional clothes.
• Teach your children the famous Dulla-Bhatti song.
• Brighten up your home by decorating it with lights.
• Invite your relatives and friends at your place to celebrate the festival of Lohri together.
• Prepare traditional dishes such as Sarson da Saag, makki ki roti, kurmure laddu etc.
• Encourage your children to plant new trees and saplings; since a lot of trees are cut down to arrange the wooden logs for the bonfire.

So, stay safe and celebrate Lohri with family and friends with happiness and joy.

Happy Lohri!! 

New Year Resolutions: Do we really follow them??

New Year resolutions are the promises we make for self improvement to be followed in the New Year. Making resolutions is easy but following them is way tougher. It is a proven fact that 80% of people who make resolutions never end up following. New Year resolutions are made with a motive of self improvement but understanding the essence and living up to promises becomes tough for everyone. Some common resolutions made by people include:

• Work on physical well-being: eat healthy food, lose weight, exercise regularly, eat better, drink less alcohol, quit smoking, stop biting nails, get rid of old bad habits
• Think positive, laugh more often, enjoy life
• Work on  financial stability: get out of debt, save money, make small investments  to secure future
• Less partying and more time to family
• Improve at career front: perform better at current job, get a better job, establish own business
• Work on  improving grades, get a better school, learn something new (such as a foreign language or music), study often, read more books, improve talent
• Improve self: become more organized, reduce stress, be less grumpy, manage time, be more independent, perhaps watch less television, play fewer sitting-down video games
• Take out time for holidays
• Delete account from social websites for individual reasons
• Volunteer to help others, practice life skills, use civic virtue, give to charity, volunteer to work part-time in a charity organization (NGO)
• Be more open and try to get along better with people, improve social skills, enhance social intelligence
• Make new friends
• Spend quality time with family members
• Settle down, get engaged/get married, have kids
• Try foreign foods, discovering new cultures  
• Pray more, be closer to God, be more spiritual etc..

All these are just few examples of some resolutions that we make on New Year. Everyone has his/her own reason to make resolutions. Although everyone is fully motivated in the beginning of the New Year but as the time speeds up the resolutions go for a toss and everyone gets busy with their routine life. To live up to these promises one must be strong willed and focused towards the goals. There are many ways to remind ourselves of the resolutions that we make, we can put reminders in our cell phones, we can make a list and paste it on the wall so that we can see it every day, we can tell our close people about our resolutions so that they can watch over and remind us whenever needed etc.  So there are many ways to stick to our resolutions but given the fact that our will is strong and we genuinely want to fulfill our promises.