Pongal versus Lohri

 

Pongal versus Lohri

In Delhi, we had two harvest festivals.

There was Pongal, which was ours.

And there was Lohri, which belonged to the Punjabis around us.

Technically, both had something to do with harvests.

Beyond that, they could not have been more different.

Pongal came with prayers, rituals and several days of celebration. We prayed to the Sun God, thanked him for the harvest and then got down to the important part: making an elaborate meal.

At the centre of it all was pongal, the sweet rice dish that gave the festival its name.

Lohri seemed much more straightforward.

There was a bonfire.

There was singing.

There was dancing.

There were Popcorn, Peanuts, and Revdi, Sarson kaa saag and Makki di roti and my favorite use to be Pinni.

And, most importantly, there was a bonfire.

In the middle of a Delhi winter, standing around a fire in the evening while sparks flew into the dark sky seemed like an excellent way to celebrate anything.

Our parents, naturally, approached Lohri with some caution.

We children did not share their concerns.

We had figured out that being a Tamil family in Delhi did not necessarily mean celebrating only Tamil festivals.

So when the neighbourhood children started gathering for Lohri, we went along.

We stood around the bonfire, sang whatever songs we knew, ate whatever was being passed around and enjoyed ourselves.

Then we went home.

The next day, we were back to being proper Tamil children.

Pongal was waiting.

There were prayers to the Sun God, the rituals, the cooking and, eventually, the feast.

Pongal also had the advantage of lasting several days, which seemed to us like very good festival planning.

Lohri had one evening.

Pongal had days.

Why choose?

We were children growing up on a Tamil island in an ocean of Punjabis.

We figured that if we were going to be an island, we might as well enjoy the ocean too.

So we celebrated Lohri with the neighborhood, enjoyed the bonfire, and then came home to celebrate Pongal the next morning.

There was no contradiction as far as we were concerned.

We could swim in the ocean and sunbathe on the island.

And if both came with food, even better.

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