Latitude, longitude and time zone 13.08, 80.27
Asia/Kolkata · UTC+5:30
The date of a festival depends on the place.
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A tithi that ends at dusk in Chennai can still be running at dusk a thousand kilometres west, which moves the day. Sunrise and sunset here are computed for the place above.
When it falls next
Sindhi calendar, computed for Chennai
- Thursday, 14 January 2027
- Friday, 14 January 2028
- Saturday, 13 January 2029
Where Lal Loi falls on the solar year, and how far the date moves between occurrences.
- 2027: 14 Jan
- 2028: 14 Jan, the same day of the year
- 2029: 13 Jan, 1 day earlier
The dates, year by year
Sindhi calendar, computed for Chennai
What the day is
The Punjab's bonfire on the evening before Makar Sankranti, at the end of the coldest fortnight and the start of the rabi harvest of sugar cane. Sesame, gur, rewri, popcorn and peanuts are thrown into the fire while the Dulla Bhatti songs are sung, and the first Lohri after a wedding or a birth in the family is kept large.
- Deity
- Agni, Surya
- Kind
- Festival Days of celebration: the house is decorated, a feast is cooked and the temple is visited.
Significance
Most of the Lohri songs are about Dulla Bhatti, a Punjabi rebel of Akbar's time from the Sandal Bar who is remembered for rescuing girls being carried off to be sold and marrying them off as their own father would; the song of Sundri and Mundri is the one every child knows. The name is explained in more than one way, from til and rorhi, sesame and jaggery, to Loi, the wife of Kabir, and traditions vary. The fire comes at the end of Poh, the coldest month, and the farmer lights it to see the winter out and to ask for the wheat already in the ground and the sugar cane now being crushed. A son's or a bride's first Lohri has always been kept large, and many families now keep a daughter's first Lohri the same way, as a deliberate answer to the old preference. The Sindhi bonfire night, the evening before the Sun turns north. What makes it Sindhi is the asking: the children of the house go round their kin for sticks of wood, and nobody refuses a child who asks. What they bring back is what burns, with til and gur thrown into it, and the house stands round the fire until it is down to embers.
How it is kept
The puja as a household does it, in order. Tick each step as it is done.
Lal Loi: how it is kept
Keep ready
- wood and dried cow-dung cakes for the fire
- a few stalks of sugar cane
- til and gur
- rewri and gajak
- popcorn, puffed rice and peanuts
- a large thaal for the offering
- a dhol
- new clothes and gifts for a new bride or baby
- rice and sugar cane juice for the rau di kheer
- mustard greens and maize flour for the dinner
The steps
0 of 9 done
What is cooked
The Punjab eats sarson da saag with makki di roti and white butter, gur, and the til and peanut sweets of the fire: rewri, gajak, til laddoo and chikki, with pinni in many homes; the rau di kheer, rice cooked slowly in sugar cane juice, is made that night for the morning. Haryana, Jammu and Delhi hand round the same rewri, popcorn and peanuts, and Sindhi families, who keep the evening as Lal Loi, feed the fire and the children in the same way.
The hour
Clock times for Thursday, 14 January 2027 at Chennai
The evening before Makar Sankranti; the fire is lit after sunset and circled while the offerings are thrown in.
The main rite. The evening before Makar Sankranti, the last night of Poh: the fire is lit after sunset, once the family and the neighbours have gathered, and the singing goes on round it into the night. The Punjab's own calendar fixes the day, so it can fall a day before the sankranti eve the northern calendar takes.
| Instant | Time | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Sunset | 18:01 | the moment the sun goes down |
| Pradosha kala | 18:01 to 20:25 | the 2 h 24 min after sunset, the evening worship hour |
Sunrise 06:35, sunset 18:01, UTC+5.5. These are the instants the rule is read at, not the temple's own puja times, which every temple prints for itself.
The day itself
| What | When | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Tithi | Shukla Shashti from previous day 13:02 until 13:59 | then Shukla Saptami until next day 14:14 |
| Nakshatra | Uttara Bhadrapada until 23:19 | then Revati until next day 23:51 |
| Rahu kaal | 13:44 to 15:09 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of the daylight left alone for a beginning |
| Yamaganda | 06:35 to 08:01 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth ruled by Yama, also avoided |
| Gulika | 09:26 to 10:52 (1 h 26 min) | the eighth of Saturn’s son; what is done in it is said to repeat |
| Abhijit | 11:55 to 12:41 (0 h 46 min) | the midday muhurta, good for most things |
| Moonrise | 10:41 | moonset 23:14 |
For Thursday, 14 January 2027 at Chennai. A time marked "previous day" or "next day" is on the clock of that day.
The fast
No fast. Sarson da saag, makki di roti, gur and til are the food of the night.
What is avoided
Only wood, dung cakes and food go into the fire: no plastic, tyres or rubbish, and nothing from a used plate. A household in its year of mourning keeps no Lohri of its own, and the children who come singing are not turned away empty-handed; the old songs themselves tease the house that gives nothing.
The name
The same day, in every language that has a word for it
Where the regions differ
Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Jammu keep Lohri; the same evening is Bhogi in Tamil Nadu and the Telugu country and Uruka in Assam, all of them a fire before the solar turn. Sindhi families keep the same bonfire night as Lal Loi: the children of the house go round their kin asking for sticks of wood, and what they bring back is burnt that evening with til and gur thrown in, the sankranti following the next morning.
In other regions
- North India
- Haryana, Himachal, Jammu and the Punjabi families of Delhi keep the same evening fire; in Jammu the boys carry the chajja, a tall frame of coloured paper and bamboo shaped like a peacock, from house to house, and Sindhi families keep the night as Lal Loi.
- Punjab
- The Punjab keeps Lohri in every village and town, Hindu and Sikh families alike, as the festival of the season rather than of either faith; the first Lohri of a son, a bride and now of a daughter is kept with a crowd, a dhol and gifts from both sides of the family.
- Sindhi (the dates above)
- Kept wherever Sindhi families settled, and in Ulhasnagar and the Sindhi mohallas of Jaipur, Ajmer and Indore the fires are street by street. The Punjab keeps the same night as Lohri and Gujarat flies kites the next morning.
The dates above are the Sindhi reckoning, because that is the calendar this key belongs to. Switch the tradition on the calendar page to see how another one dates the same day.
Greeting
What is said to family and friends on the day
ਲੋਹੜੀ ਦੀਆਂ ਲੱਖ ਲੱਖ ਵਧਾਈਆਂLohri diyan lakh lakh vadhaiyan
Mantras
The prayers said with the day. Each opens with its words and meaning.
Every date here is computed from the Sun and Moon for the place entered, by the rule printed beside it.
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A printed panchangam can differ by a day where an almanac reads a tithi at a different instant, and a family's own custom always comes first. Where the practice genuinely varies, the text says so rather than choosing for you.