Happy Lohri and Pongal!

This past Sunday was Lohri, largely celebrated in Punjab and other parts of North India. Also, as I recently learned (thanks CB!), yesterday was Pongal, celebrated in Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India. Essentially similar events, Lohri and Pongal are like North American Thanksgiving with (in the case of the former) a little bit of Groundhog Day thrown in. I’ll spare you the history and cultural lesson (please check out the links to Wikipedia if you’re curious), but the holidays are an annual celebration of the upcoming harvest and a party to end the rest period before the gathering of crops. (No, K and I won’t be gathering crops this season, but maybe next year.) The Groundhog Day bit comes from the belief that Lohri marks the end of winter.

As K was frantically packing and preparing to head back to Canada on the night of Lohri (and since we didn’t have any clue as to how Lohri is celebrated), we didn’t anticipate partaking in the festivities. But our downstairs neighbors were getting ready for the customary bonfire and invited us to join them. Never known to shy away from a party, K and I readily obliged. Once our hosts lit the bonfire in the driveway, we all toasted to Lohri, walked around the fire, sang a few songs (or mumbled and smiled, in our case), and each threw a handful of popcorn, peanuts, and revri (a crunchy, sesame seed-encrusted sweet) into the fire. Presumably since the idea of burning things while celebrating outdoors was reminiscent of Diwali, our neighbors pulled out some firecrackers leftover from November. We proceeded to entertain ourselves with this additional form of a fire hazard for another 15 minutes or so before downing our drinks and excusing ourselves for dinner. Aside from visits by two groups of hijras, the second of which left happily with a wad of cash, the celebration was pretty mellow, and hey, who doesn’t love to play with fire every once in a while?