# Lohri Is Not A Sikh Festival - A YoungSikhs.net Special



## singhlions (Jan 11, 2007)

Lohri is not a Sikh festival - A YoungSikhs.net specialWhat is Lohri? It is an Indian festival of fire in which fire is worshipped. It is usually celebrated to commemorate the birth of a male child alone. It is not celebrated on the birth of a girl as she is not considered important. Thus, it cannot be a Sikh festival as it discriminates. Also, Sikhs do not worship fire. Unfortunately, many misguided people do worship fire or Lohri because of its strong links to Punjabi culture. The birth of a daughter or son is equally joyous for Sikhs. The practise of giving sweets and celebrating Lohri only on the birth of a boy alone is a taboo for Sikhs and is entirely contrary to the Sikh way of life. The Guru Granth Sahib Jee, the final Guru body of the Sikhs clearly states on Ang 605, &quot;In all beings is He (Wahe Guru) himself pervasive, Himself pervades all forms Male and Female.&quot; Guru Arjan, Ang 405, SGGS -- Naam, the name of God is above all religious rituals, good deeds, or worship. Guru Nanak, Ang 3, SGGS -- Those who are faithful do not follow empty religious rituals. Guru Nanak, Ang 75, SGGS -- Pilgrimages, fasts, rituals, religious ceremonies or empty worship are all in vain. Salvation is achieved only by devoting worship to God. Guru Arjan, Ang 297, SGGS -- Those who engage in empty rituals will never be free of the cycle of reincarnation. Guru Nanak, Ang 1332, SGGS -- Many engaging in ceremonial rituals and mislead others. This lack of true understanding distants one from God and brings about suffering and pain. Lohri favors the male off spring and clearly discriminates against females. Hence it contributes to male preference and also to the already rising incidences of female infanticide. Punjab has earned the dubious distinction of &quot;Kuri Maaran Da Desh&quot; (a state of girl child killers). &quot;Infanticide has been practiced as a brutal method of family planning in societies where boy children are still valued, economically and socially, above girls.&quot;Traditions can be healthy and give us a sense of stability and belonging in our communities and society. On the other hand, unhealthy traditions and rituals such as Rakhee, Lohri, Kurva Chauth, dowry etc... while may be acceptable to some cultures, they are not in concert with the Sikh way of life. Those traditions that glorify male gender preference or encourage female neglect and perpetuate the view of a woman, a wife, a mother, a daughter as a liability are not in keeping with the Sikh teachings. The Sikh Gurus encouraged women to be independent and share social and religious responsibilities rather than be subservient, docile or dependent.


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## Archived_Member_19 (Jan 18, 2007)

lohri is a punjabi festival and integral to punjab's culture...

people..irirespective of their religion participate in this.

i think you are confusing lohri with holi, which involves fire worship...

in punjab,
lohri is time to meet relatives, have fun...


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## Gyani Jarnail Singh (Jan 18, 2007)

singhlions is correct..lohree involves fire worship, male domination, and havan ( food is burnt in fire).
It PREDATES Hinduism....and is a cultural thing now given "religious" colour by Hindus. 
It is NOT a Sikh "GURPURAB" and shoudnt be celebrated in a  GURDWARA.
As  a purely social get together..(Scout Bonfire - comraderie comes to mind camp fire etc)..for fun..ok....BUT when it is connected to MALE CHILD BIRTH..then it contradicts Gurbani and contributes to FEMALE FOETICIDE !!! What a Great Fraud..use WOMEN to KILL FEMALE UNBORN...keep your eyes open...all these have hidden meanings and messages...subconsciously lohree ONLY for a MALE CHILD..means BABY GIRL is NOT WELCOME....how will the mother of a new born baby GIRL FEEL ??..OH only IF i had also given birth to a BOY..I would be celebrating Lohree...now this Kulahnee Girl..came and i cant be celebrating..what BAD LUCK on me ??? Will she be ready to have another GIRL..and miss lohree AGAIN ??  subconscious peer pressure/mother in law pressure..etc etc and LOHREE is OFFICIALLY all that PRESUURE out in the OPEN....THAT is why i oppose Lohree.

Gyani jarnail Singh


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## Randip Singh (Jan 18, 2007)

Gyani Jarnail Singh said:


> singhlions is correct..lohree involves fire worship, male domination, and havan ( food is burnt in fire).
> It PREDATES Hinduism....and is a cultural thing now given "religious" colour by Hindus.
> It is NOT a Sikh "GURPURAB" and shoudnt be celebrated in a GURDWARA.
> As a purely social get together..(Scout Bonfire - comraderie comes to mind camp fire etc)..for fun..ok....BUT when it is connected to MALE CHILD BIRTH..then it contradicts Gurbani and contributes to FEMALE FOETICIDE !!! What a Great Fraud..use WOMEN to KILL FEMALE UNBORN...keep your eyes open...all these have hidden meanings and messages...subconsciously lohree ONLY for a MALE CHILD..means BABY GIRL is NOT WELCOME....how will the mother of a new born baby GIRL FEEL ??..OH only IF i had also given birth to a BOY..I would be celebrating Lohree...now this Kulahnee Girl..came and i cant be celebrating..what BAD LUCK on me ??? Will she be ready to have another GIRL..and miss lohree AGAIN ?? subconscious peer pressure/mother in law pressure..etc etc and LOHREE is OFFICIALLY all that PRESUURE out in the OPEN....THAT is why i oppose Lohree.
> ...


 
Exactly the same  reason why I oppose Lohri...........I have seen the faces of the poor women who have daughters at such Lohri events, and they all look sad or put a brave face on it.

We should have a national boycott of Lohri.............let us start with with purging this sexist festival as the first step in the  fight against female infanticide.


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## MKAUR1981 (Jan 18, 2007)

WJKK WJKF

Ok fair enough Lori is not a Sikh festival, but it is more of a cultural event.  Instead of boycotting it, why not start celebrating it for the births of girls as well.  

(Channel Punjab had a program that certain villages in India are doing just this.  Not that I believe everything media prints or broadcasts).

It gets my back up when my mother-in-law starts asking me when am I going to give her a GRANDSON (not even grandchild).  Also, when you get told to go to this place to do a mannat/Sukh for a boy.  In fact I think mithai should be given out on the birth of a child, regardless of gender.


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## Admin (Jan 18, 2007)

> Ok fair enough Lori is not a Sikh festival, but it is more of a cultural event. Instead of boycotting it, why not start celebrating it for the births of girls as well.



Very well summarised.!!


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## Randip Singh (Jan 18, 2007)

MKAUR1981 said:


> WJKK WJKF
> 
> Ok fair enough Lori is not a Sikh festival, but it is more of a cultural event. Instead of boycotting it, why not start celebrating it for the births of girls as well.
> 
> ...


 
Not sure if it would work........I have been to one event like that and people still said they are doing it because they want a son really. I think the premise of the festival is flawed.


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## Archived_Member_19 (Jan 19, 2007)

i agree with your point of celebrating lohri "only" if there is a son's birht in family..

but i think ur mistaken.. becauase traditionally lohri is celebrated as a get together...and before terrorism set in..it used to be a community festival

i agree with MKaur Ji that instead of boycotting it, we should use it to push reforms.

btw...
i find it as a quite recurring phenomena in post,

where we tend to club punjabiyat with Sikhi and vice versa...

i think this is just a pure co incidence that sikhism was started in punjab...hence majority of sikhs are punjabis...

cultural festivals ,as long as they donot go against our faith's tenets should be celebrated with same gusto....whether punjabi or gujrati or american or british...


religion , ethnicity and culture are seperate entities...and should be treated seperately.. culture is very region specific...it stems from the topography and history of the region...
ethnicity changes over generations.... 

a sikh born and brought up in UK should be more attuned to the local cultural festivities..... clinging to a culture just on the basis of ethnicity only leads to confused people.... this is what we get when people start telling that Lohri is a sikh festival.... this gets a knee jerk reaction from others who debunk it as non sikh "banned" festival...

no one bothers to keep religion and culture seperately and understand whether Lohri is of any relevance to guys in UK /USA or not?????

i believe that ethnicity, religion and culture of residence should be understood and shared with youth as seperate entities...and aspects of each evaluated and accepted or rejected

i think doing so will help all grow up as world citizens......


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## sukritkaur (Jan 12, 2012)

I was told it was to celebrate the coming winter, or the leave of winter. Can't quite remember which one. I thought it was sort of a winter solstice. I do remember going to one and seeing relatives throwing food into the fire. Not only is that completely pointless, it is a slap in the face to all those who live beneath the poverty line in India. I haven't gone back to India recently so I don't know if my family still does this. The fact they aren't particularily religious probably also contributes to celebrating this. I think *some* people that do it only celebrate Lohri as a family gathering, not a means of asking for male spawn. But I can't speak for the entire Punjab population, just my family. Either way, the reasoning behind this celebration is flawed and serves ultimately no purpose. So all god-fearing Sikhs wouldn't celebrate Lohri.


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## Ambarsaria (Jan 13, 2012)

Randip Singh said:


> Not sure if it would work........I have been to one event like that and_ people still said they are doing it because they want a son really._ I think the premise of the festival is flawed.


Randip Singh ji times are a changing.

My niece had their first child a son.  It was a low key small family affair.

They were blessed with a daughter which she so dearly wished to have.  She celebrated it in a hall with about 200 people with an improvised indoor fire, sesame seed and lot of peanuts, Gur and riorian.

Everyone thoroughly enjoyed and she made it a point to flag how happy they were to do it for their daughter.

Let us not try to politically correct everything with eradication but educate people to enjoy while getting rid of biases.

Sat Sri Akal.


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## Joginder Singh Foley (Jan 13, 2012)

*WJKKWJKF*



And this Sikh has allways wondered as to why Sikhs should have anything to do with dewalli ? As I dont think dewalli is anything really to do with Sikhi. If anyone would like to correct my I will gladly accept the correction Just my humble view 



:interestedsingh:


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## Harry Haller (Jan 14, 2012)

(when Guru Teg Bahadur ji came out of the prison with 52 Kashmiri Royals and refused to leave prison alone).


Ambarsariaji, 

You need to get a new pc, this one has an infestation of gremlins I think lol


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## Ambarsaria (Jan 14, 2012)

Joginder Singh Foley said:


> *WJKKWJKF*
> And this Sikh has allways wondered as to why _Sikhs should have anything to do with dewalli ?_ _As I dont think dewalli is anything really to do with Sikhi. _If anyone would like to correct my I will gladly accept the correction Just my humble view
> :interestedsingh:


Joginder Singh Foley ji very correct observation and my observations on Diwali.  

Way back when I was  younger Diwali was Diwali, a cultural festival for Sikhs and a religious  festival for Hindus.  Then I started hearing about sanitization of this  into Bandi Chor Divis (when Guru Hargobind Sahib ji came out of the prison  with 52 Kashmiri Royals and refused to leave prison alone).

We used to go to Ram Lila (Diwali fable plays to watch for fun and were  not given any religious lectures).  With hardening of religious divide  and the strength of the majority starting to negatively impact  minorities, there is sour taste and so perhaps sanitization efforts.

Not to offend any pious and religious just how it was with me.

Fun and frolic, sweets and fireworks.

Sat Sri Akal.


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## Kaur 1968 (Jan 14, 2012)

Waheguru ji ka Khalsa Waheguru ji ki Fateh to all

this a great site to learn about sikhi howerve i have never post anything here but always view others

Ambarsaria ji, if i am not wrong, Diwali is Bandi Chor divis for sikhs when Guru Hargobind Sahib ji (not Guru Teg Bahadur ji) came out of the prison with 52 kings 

bhul Chuck maaf

kaur 1968


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