Traditional delicacies, kite flying mark Lohri in city

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, January 13

The celebration of Lohri, also known as the winter harvest festival, was a blend of the age-old tradition and the current trend in the city. While residents relished ‘rauh (sugarcane juice) di kheer’ to mark the occasion, youngsters and children danced to the beats of drums or DJs apart from participating in kite flying contests.

However, the practice of demanding Lohri (Lohri mangna) was missed in the city as the tradition is dying down with the passage of time. Elderly people say that in the days of yore, children used to go from door to door singing folk songs and demanding Lohri in the form of til (sesame) seeds, peanuts, jaggery, gajak, rewri and money or other valuables. But with the passage of time, this practice has got itself confined to the lower stratum, said Nachattar Singh, an elderly.

In evening, bonfires were lit in streets where families gathered and celebrated Lohri by sharing ‘gur’ and ‘moongfali’ with each other.