“Lohri is the first festival of the year, so it becomes a great opportunity to get together with the family and celebrate,” says singer Harshdeep Kaur, who likes to relive her childhood memories on the festival. “Bachpan se, we have been celebrating it by offering moongfali and rewari to the fire, taking circles around it, singing folk songs and dancing… I hold all that very close to my heart. When we celebrated it as kids, we would just enjoy all the fun things about the festival and never really knew the true meaning behind it. But now, to realise its importance and to pass on all that to our son, Hunar, feels special. Now, it’s all about celebrating the value of togetherness,” she adds.
Talking about “one of the most important aspects of the festival, khana”, the singer says, “Makke ki roti and sarson ka saag with gur and lots of desi ghee is a Lohri quintessential. Chikki, rewari, popcorn and moongfali are extremely important too.”
Kaur adds that she tries to pass on the values of the festival to her son too. “We started telling Hunar about Lohri a while ago. In fact, we showed him videos and photos of his first Lohri celebration and he got very excited about it. We told him how it’s the festival of the harvest season, when farmers pray to the fire because it’s a symbol of the sun. He also feels curious about the the music and cultural celebration around it. This time, we plan to have some of his friends over.”
The singer, who hails from Delhi, misses celebrating the festival in North India. “I miss celebrating Lohri in the thand of Delhi. Both my husband, Mankeet Singh, and I were born and brought up in Delhi. Thand mein jab aap garam-garam khana, gulab jamun khate ho, uska maza hi kuch aur hai. But now that all our families and friends are in Mumbai, we try to recreate the same vibe here. Thanks to my profession, since we keep travelling a lot, sometimes we do get to celebrate Lohri in the North.”
For the first time, Kaur has come up with a single on the festival, titled Sundar Mundariye - The Lohri Song, which she released on her YouTube channel today. “This is the first time that I’ve sung a song for Lohri. There are not too many songs that are dedicated solely to Lohri, and mostly people sing folk songs. This song is an out-and-out Lohri song with modern arrangements. This concept could see the light of the day because of its writer Shellee, my co-singer Devinderpal Singh my husband, Mankeet Singh, who made sure I saw this through,” she ends.
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