About Lohri
Lohri is the bonfire night of Punjab, kept on the last day of the month of Poh, the evening before Maghi. In 2027 it falls on Thursday, 14 January 2027. Families in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Delhi light a fire after sunset, feed it sesame, jaggery, popcorn and peanuts, and sing about the folk hero Dulla Bhatti.
Lohri is an evening, not a day. Nothing much happens until the light goes, and then the fire is lit in a courtyard, a farm, a street corner or a society lawn, and the neighbourhood comes out to stand around it.
People walk around the fire and throw handfuls into it: til, gur, rewri, gachak, phulle (popcorn) and peanuts. The gesture is an offering to the fire and to the season; the eating happens on the way home.
What harvest does Lohri celebrate?
The harvest behind Lohri is sugarcane, not wheat. The wheat sown in November is still in the ground at Lohri and will not be cut until Vaisakhi in April. What is being cut and crushed in January is sugarcane, which is where the gur, gachak and rewri on the fire come from, and the mustard in the fields is in flower, which is why sarson da saag with makki di roti is the meal of the night.
Lohri falls on the last day of Poh, the tenth month of the Punjabi calendar, with Maghi and the new month of Magh starting the next morning. It is the end of the coldest stretch of the north Indian winter, and from here the days lengthen.
The other Lohri dish is roh di kheer, rice slow-cooked in sugarcane juice rather than milk. It follows an old saying, "Poh ridhi, Magh khadi": cooked in Poh, eaten in Magh. Families make it on Lohri evening and eat it on Maghi morning, and the langar at the Harmandir Sahib in Amritsar serves it around these days.
The Dulla Bhatti song
Children go door to door asking for their Lohri, which is handed over as rewri, peanuts or a small note, and the song they sing is about a sixteenth-century Punjabi landowner from Pindi Bhattian who rebelled against Akbar's revenue officials.
In the folk account, Dulla Bhatti rescued girls who were being taken to be sold, and married them off himself, standing in as their brother and lighting the wedding fire because they had no family to do it. The song names two of them, Sundri and Mundri.
Sunder mundriye ho! Tera kaun vichara ho! Dulla Bhatti wala ho!
That story is the reason Lohri is read as a night about protection and about marriage, and it sits awkwardly with the older custom of lighting the biggest fires only for sons.
First Lohri, and whose it is
The first Lohri after a birth or a wedding is the one a family plans for. Relatives are called, the new bride or the baby is dressed up and seated near the fire, sweets and shagun are given, and the dhol arrives. In many families this was historically done for a newborn boy.
Punjab has been pushing against that. Under the Dhiyan di Lohri programme, district administrations and the state government hold public celebrations for girls born that year, and the Chief Minister's office sends congratulatory letters to their parents. In one recent year about 5,100 families gathered at a single event in a Jalandhar district village to mark the first Lohri of newborn girls, with the state women's commission and cabinet ministers present.
Maghi, the next morning
The morning after Lohri is Maghi, the first day of Magh, the same solar moment kept elsewhere as Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Magh Bihu. Many people take a dip at dawn and give to charity.
For Sikhs, Maghi carries its own history. It remembers the Chali Mukte, the Forty Liberated Ones, a group who had left Guru Gobind Singh, returned to fight an imperial force at Khidrane di Dhab in 1705, and died there. The place is now Sri Muktsar Sahib, and the Mela Maghi held there each year draws large crowds to Gurdwara Tutti Gandi Sahib. Gurdwaras hold an akhand path and kirtan. It is a commemorative day, not a party.
How is Lohri celebrated in different regions?
Lohri is kept in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu and Himachal Pradesh, and by Sindhi families as Lal Loi, with the bonfire common to all and the details changing from place to place.
| Place | Name and form | What is different |
|---|---|---|
| Punjab, Haryana, Delhi | Lohri | Street and courtyard bonfires, bhangra and gidda to the dhol, kite flying through the afternoon in Amritsar and Ludhiana |
| Jammu | Lohri | Children carry a decorated chajja, a peacock-shaped frame, house to house, and the Hiran dance is performed |
| Himachal Pradesh | Lohri, Magha Saaji | Fires plus the start of the new month, with family visits and gifts of gur |
| Sindhi families | Lal Loi | Children bring sticks of wood to the fire and are given sweets by elders |
| Sikh households | Lohri, then Maghi | The evening is cultural and shared with neighbours; the religious observance is at the gurdwara the next morning |
What to write
Lohri diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan, Mummy and Papa. Keep some gachak for me and save a seat near the fire. I will be home before the saag is finished.
Happy first Lohri to little Gurleen and to all of you. May her name always be called out around a fire this warm. Lots of love from us.
Wishing you both a very happy first Lohri. New house, new fire, same old habit of finishing the rewri before anyone else gets any.
Happy Lohri to you and your family. Hope there is a fire, a dhol and far too much sarson da saag tonight.
Lohri diyan vadhaiyan, yaar. No dhol here, so I am playing it on the speaker and pretending. Miss standing around that fire with you.
Lohri di lakh lakh vadhai to you and the family, and a peaceful Maghi tomorrow.
Happy Lohri, Bebe and Bapu ji. The til you sent reached us and went straight into the fire, as instructed.
Lohri diyan vadhaiyan. A sweet crop of cane this year and a good wheat harvest come Vaisakhi.
- Poh and Magh
- The tenth and eleventh months of the Punjabi calendar; Lohri is the last night of Poh
- Rewri and gachak
- Sesame and jaggery sweets made from the January sugarcane crop
- Phulle
- Popcorn, thrown into the fire along with til and gur
- Roh di kheer
- Rice cooked in sugarcane juice, made on Lohri and eaten on Maghi
- Chali Mukte
- The Forty Liberated Ones remembered by Sikhs on Maghi at Sri Muktsar Sahib
- Lohri diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan
- A hundred thousand congratulations on Lohri, the usual Punjabi greeting
How to wish someone on Lohri
A Lohri wish is warm and plain: "Lohri diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan". Name the fire, the gur and rewri, the saag, or the person whose first Lohri it is. Families with a newborn or a new bride treat this as their big night, so a wish that mentions the baby or the couple by name matters more than a generic one. Sikh friends may mark Maghi the next morning at the gurdwara, which is a quieter, more solemn day.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + regional language.
When is Lohri in 2026 and 2027?
Lohri is set by the Hindu solar calendar, so it falls on a different date each year. In 2027 it falls 1 day later than in 2026.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is Lohri in 2027?
Lohri 2027 falls on Thursday, 14 January 2027.
Why does Lohri fall on 13 January in most years but sometimes on the 14th?
Lohri is the last night of the Punjabi month of Poh, so it moves with Maghi, which begins the next morning. When the Sun's entry into Makara happens after sunset and Maghi shifts to 15 January, Lohri shifts with it to the 14th. Some Punjabi calendars keep 13 January regardless, so families occasionally differ by a day.
Who was Dulla Bhatti and why is he sung about on Lohri?
Dulla Bhatti was a sixteenth-century Punjabi landowner from Pindi Bhattian who rebelled against Mughal revenue collection under Akbar. Punjabi folklore credits him with rescuing girls who were being sold and arranging their marriages himself, and the Lohri song "Sunder mundriye" retells that story around the fire.
Is Lohri a Sikh festival or a Hindu one?
Neither exactly. Lohri is a Punjabi seasonal festival kept by Sikh, Hindu and many other Punjabi families, with no temple or gurdwara ritual attached to the bonfire. The religious day is Maghi the next morning, when Sikhs remember the Chali Mukte at Sri Muktsar Sahib.
What is the difference between Lohri and Maghi?
Lohri is the bonfire evening on the last day of Poh. Maghi is the next day, the first of the month of Magh and the same solar moment as Makar Sankranti, marked with a dawn dip, charity, roh di kheer and, for Sikhs, the Mela Maghi at Sri Muktsar Sahib.
What is the first Lohri and how is it celebrated?
The first Lohri is the one after a baby is born or a couple marries. The family calls relatives, seats the baby or the new bride near the fire, hands out rewri, gachak and shagun, and often books a dhol player. Punjab now runs public Dhiyan di Lohri events so that girls' first Lohri is marked as widely as boys'.
What do you say to someone on Lohri?
"Lohri diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan" is the standard Punjabi greeting, and "Happy Lohri" is perfectly fine in English. If the family has a newborn or a newly married couple, wish them on that first Lohri by name, which is what the evening is really about for them.
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