People be like “huh? What’s she going on about?!”
Well, I won’t get too technical, because, well, I don’t know all the ins and outs, but especially in Punjab, India, we celebrate a festival called Lohri, on the 13th January.
There are several reasons it was celebrated, the winter solstice, the end of winter (supposedly!), a harvest festival of sorts, a new year celebration, and also a welcome celebration for the newest members of the family, who joined during that year, via marriage or birth.
Ins and outs of the festival, well a big fire is lit, and people throw handfuls of sesame seeds in it, chanting a rhyme which roughly translates to welcome happiness and do away with negativity.
And where there are a bunch of Indians, there is sure to be food!! It’s traditional to eat Saag (spinach curry), Makki Di Roti (corn meal chappatis), and Kheer (rice pudding) made with gur, the unrefined sugar made there. Ok, so diet outta the window tonight!!
Many families used to just celebrate when a baby boy was born, not a girl, because apparently you weren’t to celebrate a girls birth, but a boy, oh yes! Rejoice! (Not good!) my family didn’t really celebrate this festival, in fact I really learned about it after getting married. When Lil Man was born, we had a gathering at home, the fire lit, a marquee in the garden music and merriment! A lot of happiness!
When Lil Princess was still but a bump in my tummy, I spoke with my father in law about celebrating a girls arrival… He was very strict on this point, ” no, only a boy, not for girls.” Not because he is sexist, per se, but because this was how it had always been done in the villages, when he was growing up.
Unbeknown to him though, in the villages and towns in Punjab, in recent years, a girl is celebrated much more than a boy. The reason? Because boys were given so much importance, especially in rich families, that they would do nothing all day, but live the life of Riley, get into bad ways, spend what their parents worked hard to earn, and generally cause more heartache… Or they would go abroad, and forget their families left at home. And the daughters? They took the mantle of ‘son’ and started getting jobs, looking after their parents, in their senior years, and took responsibility of families. Suddenly, a boy was not necessarily the best choice!
Hence, all children were being celebrated!
But still, it was not a viable choice here, apparently. No one in the UK was up to speed with the way things had changed in India, so we had our own little celebration at home, but not the big hoo ha Lil Man had.
And this year, I have a new little person to welcome in our lives, my nephew!
I don’t know whether they will celebrate in Finland, but my mum is there, so I hope she attempts to make Saag at least! I know my mother in law is preparing the feast as we speak!
And we have our lil Sonu Singh too! Ok, so cats aren’t meant to be included, but he IS our new baby!
So, Happy Lohri everyone who celebrates, and to all my blogsters too!!!
