Lohri marks the peaking of winter season and the approach of Basant ( spring ). This year the cold wave was very severe.Hopefully the worst is over.
Lohri is secular festival and associated with all Punjabis.
Through out Jalandhar, one can find numerous shops and, especially, Rehris and pavement stalls selling ghachak and groundnuts.
Some young children can still be seen asking for lohri . They sing the traditional folklore song :-
Sundari Mundari Ho.
Tera Kaun Vichara Ho
Dulla Bhatti Wala
Dulle Di Dhee Vihayi
( Meaning that Dulla Bhatti Wala -the Lover in whose love young girl Sundari is lost is actually a Middle Aged man whose daughter is already married i.e. Dulla is already married and father of Marriageable Children )
But children from posh localities etc. avoid going to houses asking for lohri. However, in the evening every body enjoys a gathering with family members, relatives and friends around a bonfire.
On Lohri it is said
Til Tadkey Jara Sadkey
( As the Oil Seeds Burn ( in the Lohri Bonfire ) - Severe Cold Abates )
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For full folk Song Sundar Mundariye Ho And Its Meaning :-
Grand Example of Medieval India Secularism
ReplyDeleteDullah Bhatti was a Muslim Landlord .
Sundari and Mundari , the young girls he rescued , were Brahmins