The new year brings with it different kinds of winter harvest festivals including Makar Sankranti, Pongal and Lohri, celebrated across many states. However, not many know the story around Lohri. This festival symbolises the ripening of winter crops as well as the start of a new harvesting season. It is all about delicious food, family, and friends, along with traditional folk songs and dance.

The auspicious festival of Lohri is widely celebrated by the people of Haryana and Punjab, particularly by the Hindu and Sikh communities. The festival also goes by the names Lohadi and Lal Loi and falls the day before Makar Sankranti. On this day, people light fires outside their homes or in public areas using wood and cow dung cakes, and then they perform Parikrama around the fire while offering sesame seeds, jaggery, gajak, rewdi, and peanuts. Along with harvesting the crops, they also offer the bhog they made from the crops offered to the fire.