Lohri is a festival of fire, grain and company. It is kept in the cold middle of January, usually on the night before Makar Sankranti, and it belongs above all to Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, though Punjabi families keep it wherever they live. A bonfire is lit at dusk, people gather round it, and the evening is spent with songs, dancing and food.
What the day marks
Lohri celebrates the turn of the year’s coldest stretch and the winter harvest, especially sugar cane and the wheat standing in the fields. Sesame, jaggery, peanuts, popcorn and the sweet called rewri are carried to the fire and offered to it, and then shared. The fire is honoured as a gift of warmth, and the offerings are a way of giving thanks for the crop and asking for the sun to return in strength.
A family that has a new baby or a new bride in the household often keeps its first Lohri with particular joy. The neighbours come, gifts are exchanged, and the child or the couple takes part in the circle around the fire. Songs for the day often speak of Dulla Bhatti, a Punjabi folk hero of the sixteenth century remembered for protecting village girls; the songs are traditional and the details differ from village to village.
How the date is fixed
Lohri has no tithi of its own. It follows the sun, not the moon. Makar Sankranti is the moment the Sun enters Makara, the sidereal Capricorn, and Lohri is kept on the evening before the day that carries that festival. The page for Makar Sankranti explains how its day is chosen: if the Sun enters Makara before sunset, that civil day is Makar Sankranti, and if it enters after sunset, the next day is. Lohri is then the day before.
The result is that Lohri does not always fall on the same civil date. In some years and some cities the ingress comes late in the evening, and the festival moves a day. The table shows, for each city, the Sankranti moment in local time that decides it.
Why cities differ
The ingress is a single instant for the whole world. A moment that falls in the afternoon in India falls in the small hours of the same morning in North America and in the late evening in Australia, and whether it comes before or after the local sunset can differ from one city to the next. That is why Lohri in Sydney or Melbourne can be a day later than Lohri in New York for the same ingress. Your own city can be found among the 49 above or worked out with the any-city tool.
Through the evening
The usual order is simple. Dry wood and cow-dung cakes are stacked in an open space or courtyard. At dusk the fire is lit, and people walk round it, usually three times, throwing in sesame, jaggery, peanuts and popcorn and saying a short prayer for health and plenty. Then comes the singing and the dancing, with bhangra and gidda in Punjab, and then food: sarson ka saag with makki ki roti, gajak, and sweets made of sesame and jaggery. The next day is Makar Sankranti, when many people bathe in rivers and give to the poor; the same night is also the eve of Pongal in Tamil Nadu.
A calm note
Where a bonfire is not possible, a flat in a city, a cold climate or a rule on open fires, a lamp or a small candle with the same offerings is a fair substitute, and the sharing of food is the heart of the evening. If you are lighting a real fire, keep it a safe distance from buildings and children, and have water close by. If your family or your gurdwara or temple keeps a different evening, follow them.