Lohri: The festival of Good harvest and Fertility
Lohri is festival, which is celebrated in the northern part of India and people especially from Punjab. This is a bonfire festival where people come of out of their houses even in the freezing cold of winters of north only to celebrate the good fertility and harvest of the winter corps known as Rabi. People gather around a bonfire and men and women dressed in majestic colourful traditional dresses with turban on men enjoy by singing and dancing their traditional tunes and dances. Men do Bhangra while Giddha is for women.
The Lohri starts with the kids moving out in the morning and calling out the Lohri 'loot' which comes in the form of money or more popularly eatables like til (sesame), peanuts, or sweets like rewri, etc. In the evening people come out of their houses and gather together where huge bonfires are lit up. People start throwing puffed rice into the fire by encircling it singing and praying "Aadar aye dilather jaye" which means 'May honor come and poverty vanishes". People dance and sing then exchange gifts and start to dine with Punjab's most famous 'makke di roti sarson da saag' i.e. the chapati made of corn and well cooked mustard herbs.
Bhogi: The first day of the Pongal:
Bhogi is the name give to the same festival of harvest of crops and which is also regarded as the festival of prosperity in the south India as in the north. While Pongal is the festival of Tamil Nadu but people from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerela also celebrate it with same spirit. In most of the northern part this festival is is also known as Makar sankranti and is celebrated by flying kite in Maharastra and Gujrat.
Bhogi is celebrated in the middle of January as in the North. Bhogi is the first day of Pongal in south where people start by throwing away the old clothes and materials. They set all these into fire and celebrate the beginning of new by passing away the old into fire.