Warmest greetings to my dear friends for Lohri and Sankranti festivities. From Avdhesh Shukla January 13, 2015 _________________________________ “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” …..Oprah Winfrey (born January 29, 1954) – an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her multi-award-winning talk show ‘The Oprah Winfrey Show’ which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century and the greatest black philanthropist in American history. Though born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother, she is currently North Americas only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world. ________________________________ LOHRI Lohri – an extremely-popular bonfire festival of northern India – is celebrated during winters on the 13th of January every year while the northern hemisphere of earth starts tilting towards the sun marking the (Hindu-) auspicious period of Uttarayan. Farmers celebrate Lohri before the cutting and gathering of rabi crops, grateful to God for a good crop and thanking the Sun-God for bringing warmth as the occasion is related to the winter-solstice with the days getting longer hereafter marking the departure of the winter. Earlier it was celebrated mainly in the Punjab region but now across the country people celebrated this across the country as a harvest festival like Bhogali Bihu/ Bihu in Assam and Bengal, Bhogi in Andhra Pradesh, Pongal in Tamil Nadu and the Sankranti in Bihar, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. Punjabi farmers see the day after Lohri as the beginning of financial New Year. Over the times, people have related Lohri-festival to the tale of Dulla Bhatti (Rai Abdullah Khan Bhatti Rajput) – a rebel-hero in the folklores of Punjab of the period of Emperor Akbar, who helped the weak and the poor by robbing the insolent rich, and rescued Hindu girls being forcibly taken to be sold in slave market of the Middle East. He arranged their marriages to Hindu boys with rituals and provided them with dowries. Thus almost every Lohri-song has words to express gratitude to Dulla Bhatti. During the day, children go from door to door singing folk songs in praise of Dulha Bhatti. These children are given sweets and savories, and occasionally, money. Turning them back empty-handed is considered inauspicious. ______________________________ LOHRI-SONG (in Punjabi dialect) Tera kaun bichara ho ! Dulla Bhatti-wala ho ! Dulle di dhee vyayee ho ! Ser shakkar payee ho ! Kudi da laal palhaka ho ! Kudi da saalu paatta ho ! Saalu kaun samete ! Chache choori kutti ! Zamindaara lutti ! Zamindaar sudhaye ! Bade bhole aaye ! Ek bhola rah gaya ! Sipaahi pakad ke lai gaya ! Sipaahi ne maari eent ! Saanu de de Lohri ! Te teri jiven Jodi ! Paheenve ro te phannve pitte ! ____________________________ By AVDHESH SHUKLA
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 13:50:41 +0000
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