Lohri 2027 is on Thursday, 14 January. It is the eve of Makar Sankranti, which follows on Friday, 15 January; the Sun enters Capricorn at 9:10 PM on 14 Jan 2027 in New Delhi.
Lohri is kept on the eve of Makar Sankranti: the day before the festival that follows the Sun's entry into Capricorn. So its date moves with that instant — when the Sun crosses after sunset, Makar Sankranti moves to the next day and Lohri with it.
Lohri
Thursday, 14 January 2027
The festival it is the eve of
Friday, 15 January 2027
Sun enters Capricorn
14 Jan, 9:10 PM
The date follows the Sun's ingress through the festival after it: when the Sun enters Capricorn after sunset, that festival moves to the next morning, and its eve moves with it. That is why this date is sometimes the 13th and sometimes the 14th.
All Lohri 2027 muhurat · New Delhi
Lohri muhurat
Lohri is Punjab's winter bonfire festival, kept on the evening before Makar Sankranti: families light a fire after dark, offer sesame, jaggery, rewri, popcorn and peanuts to it, walk around it and sing, and celebrate a new baby's or a new bride's first Lohri. In New Delhi it falls on Thursday, 14 January 2027; the Sun sets at 5:45 PM, and the fire is lit in the evening that follows, the pradosh kaal (5:45 PM to 8:27 PM). Maghi, the day of Makar Sankranti, follows the next morning.
All Lohri 2027 muhurat in New Delhi
Muhurat
Time in New Delhi
What it is for
Sunset (the fire is lit after it)
5:45 PMThe upper edge of the Sun leaving the horizon.
Lohri is an evening festival. The fire is lit after dark, once family and neighbours have gathered, so sunset in New Delhi is the point most families wait for.
Pradosh Kaal (the first part of the night)
5:45 PM to 8:27 PMFrom sunset for three night muhurtas (a fifth of the night).
The first fifth of the night after sunset. Lohri has no classical muhurat of its own; families who like the fire and the offering to fall in an auspicious span of the evening light it within pradosh kaal.
Auspicious choghadiya (night)
Amrit5:45 PM to 7:26 PM
Chal7:26 PM to 9:07 PM
Labh15 Jan, 12:30 AM to 2:11 AM
Shubh15 Jan, 3:52 AM to 5:33 AM
Amrit15 Jan, 5:33 AM to 7:14 AM
The night's Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Chal choghadiyas.
The night's Amrit, Shubh, Labh and Chal choghadiyas. Families who choose times by the choghadiya light the fire, or hold a first-Lohri gathering, in one of the evening's good choghadiyas.
Every time above is computed for New Delhi around Thursday, 14 January 2027, from the sunrise, sunset and the positions of the Sun and Moon for this city. The Vedic day runs sunrise to sunrise, so a window whose clock time falls after midnight still belongs to the evening before; a time on another date carries that date.
Puja vidhi · step by step at home
Lohri puja vidhi
Gather the wood
In villages and old neighbourhoods, children go from house to house in the days before, singing Lohri songs and collecting wood, cow-dung cakes, sweets and a little money for the fire; what they are given is itself called lohri. In cities, families gather dry wood and choose an open space, away from wires, trees and parked vehicles.
Prepare the offerings
Fill plates with sesame (til), jaggery (gur), rewri, gajak, popcorn, peanuts and puffed rice. A little of each goes into the fire; the rest is the prasad shared afterwards.
Light the fire after dark
When everyone has gathered, an elder of the family, or the parents of the baby or the bride whose first Lohri it is, lights the fire. Many families first bow to it with folded hands, as Agni, and remember the Sun, whose entry into Makara the next morning the festival welcomes.
Offer sesame and sweets to the fire
Throw sesame, jaggery, popcorn, rewri and peanuts into the fire by the handful. Punjabi families say an old line as they do: Ishar aa, dalidar ja, dalidar di jarh chulhe pa, may God's plenty come and poverty go, its root into the fire.
Walk around the fire
Go round the fire clockwise with folded hands, praying for a good harvest, health and happiness in the house. Newly-weds go round it together, and a mother carries the baby.
Sing and dance
Sing Sundar Mundriye and the Lohri boliyan, and dance bhangra and gidda to the dhol, keeping a safe distance from the flames.
Share the prasad
Share rewri, gajak, peanuts and popcorn with everyone present, and give sweets and a little money to the children who came singing.
Bless the first Lohri
A family celebrating a new baby's or a new bride's first Lohri invites relatives and neighbours, distributes sweets and seats the baby or the couple near the fire for the elders' blessings. Many families now celebrate a daughter's first Lohri as joyfully as a son's.
Dinner, and Maghi in the morning
Dinner is sarson da saag with makki di roti. The next morning is Maghi: a bath at dawn, an offering of water to the Sun and kheer cooked in sugarcane juice.
Put the fire out safely
Let the fire burn down under watch, then douse the embers with water or sand before everyone leaves.
Samagri · what to keep ready
Lohri puja samagri list
Dry wood and cow-dung cakesFor the fire; never plastic, rubber, tyres or painted wood.
Sesame (til)The first offering to the fire and an ingredient of the sweets.
Jaggery (gur)Offered to the fire and eaten with sesame.
RewriSmall sesame-and-sugar sweets, the signature prasad of Lohri.
GajakThin sesame-jaggery brittle; chikki of peanuts is a common alternative.
PopcornCalled phulle; offered to the fire and shared.
Peanuts (moongphali)Roasted, in their shells; offered and shared.
Puffed riceOptional, in many families' offering plate.
Plates for the offeringsOne per family member is the easiest way to let everyone offer.
Matches and a little camphorTo light the fire; never kerosene or petrol.
A bucket of water and some sandSafety, and to put the embers out at the end.
Sweets and small money for childrenThe lohri given to children who come singing.
For a first Lohri: new clothes and sweets to distributeFor the baby or the bride, and boxes of rewri and gajak for the guests.
A dholOptional, for bhangra and gidda.
Shawls and blanketsIt is the coldest week of the year; cotton or wool near the fire, not synthetics.
Om agnim ile purohitam yajnasya devam ritvijam Hotaram ratnadhatamam
Meaning: I praise Agni, the priest placed in front, the god who serves the sacrifice, the invoker, the greatest giver of treasure. The opening verse of the Rigveda, of the sage Madhuchchhandas.
When and how: Lohri has no scriptural mantra of its own; families who pray at the fire may say this once, with folded hands, before the offerings.
Offering to Agni
ॐ अग्नये स्वाहा
Om agnaye svaha
Meaning: Om, to Agni, svaha: the word said as an offering is given into the fire.
When and how: With each handful of sesame or jaggery, if your family offers with a mantra.
The Lohri saying at the fire (Punjabi folk)
ईशर आ, दलिद्दर जा, दलिद्दर दी जड़ चूल्हे पा
Ishar aa, dalidar ja, dalidar di jarh chulhe pa
Meaning: Come, God's plenty; go, poverty; put the root of poverty into the fire. A folk saying, not a Sanskrit mantra.
When and how: Said aloud, often by the women of the house, while throwing sesame into the Lohri fire.
Om bhur bhuvah svah Tat savitur varenyam bhargo devasya dhimahi Dhiyo yo nah prachodayat
Meaning: We meditate on the adorable radiance of the divine Savitr, the Sun that moves all things; may he inspire our minds.
When and how: At dawn on Maghi, the next morning, after the bath, when water is offered to the Sun.
Katha · the story and its meaning
Lohri katha and significance
The katha
The song every Lohri gathering sings is about Dulla Bhatti, Rai Abdullah Bhatti, a rebel of the Sandal Bar in Punjab in the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar, who robbed the rich and helped the poor. Punjab's story says he rescued girls who were being carried off to be sold, two of them remembered as Sundri and Mundri, arranged their marriages and gave them away himself, as a father would.
That is the song Sundar Mundriye: in its call and answer, the children ask who will look after the girl, and the answer is Dulla Bhatti, who married off his daughter and gave a ser of sugar as her dowry. Children sing it from door to door in his name, and the houses that hear it give them sweets, wood and money for the fire.
Older than the song is the fire itself. Lohri falls in the last nights of Poh, the coldest month of the Punjabi year, when the rabi wheat has been sown and the sugarcane harvested; families gather around the fire to give thanks for the harvest and to welcome the Sun's turn into Makara at the next dawn.
Why it is kept
Lohri is the eve of Makar Sankranti, so its date follows the Sun: it is the day before the Sun's entry into Makara is kept, 13 January in most years and 14 January when Sankranti moves to the 15th. It is a festival of the farm and the hearth rather than of the temple: thanks for the harvest, a fire against the coldest nights, and sesame, jaggery and peanuts, the warming foods of the season.
It is above all a family festival. A new baby's or a new bride's first Lohri is the year's great celebration in a Punjabi home, with relatives, sweets and singing; in recent years families and whole villages have begun to celebrate the Lohri of daughters as warmly as that of sons. Hindus and Sikhs of Punjab keep it alike, and Maghi follows the next morning.
Upay · traditional practice
Lohri upay: traditional remedies
Sesame and jaggery to the fire
Offer sesame and jaggery to the fire with a prayer for the house. Tradition holds that the fire takes the year's cold and want with it, which is what the old saying at the fire asks.
Give lohri to the singing children
Give sweets, peanuts or a little money to the children who come singing. It is believed that a house which sends them away happy is blessed in the year ahead.
Warm clothes for someone in need
Lohri falls in the coldest week of the year; giving a blanket or warm clothes is the most practical gift of the season.
Blessings for the newly-weds and the baby
Seat the new bride or the baby near the fire so that the elders can bless them; families keep it as the heart of a first Lohri.
Water to the Sun at Maghi dawn
Bathe early the next morning and offer water to the rising Sun, as Makar Sankranti begins; Punjab calls the day Maghi.
Share the harvest
Share rewri, gajak and peanuts with neighbours, workers and passers-by. The festival is a thanksgiving, and tradition says thanks are best given by sharing.
The custom, in short
Lohri do's and don'ts
Do
Light the fire in an open space, away from wires, trees and vehicles.
Burn only dry wood and cow-dung cakes.
Keep a bucket of water and some sand beside the fire.
Keep children at arm's length from the flames and wear cotton or wool, not synthetics.
Offer sesame, jaggery and sweets to the fire and share the prasad.
Welcome the children who come singing with sweets or a little money.
Celebrate a daughter's first Lohri as warmly as a son's.
Douse the embers fully before leaving the fire.
Don't
Do not burn plastic, rubber, tyres or garbage in the Lohri fire.
Do not use kerosene or petrol to light it.
Do not burst crackers near the fire or the crowd.
Do not leave the fire unattended, even when it is low.
Do not drink and drive home after the celebrations.
Do not light the fire under trees, overhead wires or on a terrace without a fireproof base.
Across India
Lohri customs and food
By region
Punjab
The bonfire in every courtyard and mohalla, Sundar Mundriye and the boliyan, bhangra and gidda, and the first Lohri of babies and brides; Maghi the next morning with a dip and kheer of sugarcane juice.
Haryana and Delhi
The same bonfire with rewri, gajak and peanuts, and first-Lohri gatherings in Punjabi families across the capital region.
Himachal Pradesh
Lohri fires on the eve, with til and gur, and Magh Saaji, the Sankranti, the next morning.
Jammu
Boys carry a chajja, a peacock made of paper and bamboo, from house to house, dancing and singing for lohri; the hiran dance is also seen.
Sindhi families
Lal Loi is kept on the same night: children bring sticks for the fire, and the family gathers around it.
Punjabis abroad
In Canada, the UK and elsewhere, gurdwaras, temples and community halls hold Lohri evenings with a fire, bhangra and rewri.
Bhog, prasad and fasting food
RewriSmall sesame-and-sugar sweets: the prasad of Lohri.
GajakSesame and jaggery brittle, plain or with dry fruit.
Peanuts and popcornRoasted peanuts and phulle, offered to the fire and eaten around it.
Til laddoo and chikkiSesame or peanut sweets set in jaggery.
Sarson da saag and makki di rotiMustard greens with maize flatbread, white butter and jaggery: the Lohri dinner.
Rau di kheerRice cooked slowly in sugarcane juice, made for Maghi the next morning.
Gur and gheeEaten with the roti, and a piece of gur is the simplest prasad of all.
Lohri across five years
Two years back, this year, and two ahead. Past years are kept rather than dropped so you can check the engine against a calendar you already have.
Lohri across five years
Year
Date
Status
2024
Sunday, 14 January 2024
past
2025
Monday, 13 January 2025
past
2026This year
Tuesday, 13 January 2026
past
2027
Thursday, 14 January 2027
upcoming
2028
Friday, 14 January 2028
upcoming
Every row is computed for New Delhi from the same ephemeris, not looked up. Sunrise decides which day a tithi names, and sunrise differs across India by more than an hour, so a date computed for Delhi can be a day out elsewhere.
Why calendars disagree about this date
There is no single authority that settles a Hindu festival date, and the divergence is genuine rather than sloppy. Three causes account for almost all of it.
A tithi rarely starts at sunrise. One that is running at the deciding moment on two days — or on none — is claimed by both days under different rules.
Month reckoning. North India runs purnimanta, the south and west amanta. The same dark fortnight carries different month names in the two, so an observance defined as "krishna X of month Y" can land a full lunation apart.
Which moment decides. Most vratas belong to the day whose sunrise carries the tithi, but not all: this one is decided at the solar ingress. Almanacs that apply the sunrise rule to everything move several festivals by a day.
So this page shows its working. If your pandit or your family almanac gives a different day, the instants above will usually show you exactly why — and that is more useful than a date asserted without one.
In New Delhi, Lohri is on Thursday, 14 January 2027. It is always the evening before Makar Sankranti, so it follows the Sun's entry into Makara that this page computes: 13 January in most years, and 14 January in a year when Makar Sankranti moves to the 15th. The fire is lit after sunset (5:45 PM).
Why is Lohri on a different date some years?
Because Makar Sankranti is. Lohri is always its eve, and Makar Sankranti moves to the next day when the Sun enters Capricorn after sunset — 15 January instead of 14 — which takes the eve from the 13th to the 14th.
Why is Lohri celebrated?
Lohri gives thanks for the winter harvest, especially sugarcane, at the end of the coldest month, and welcomes the Sun's entry into Makara the next morning. It is also the night of Dulla Bhatti's song, and the great celebration of a new baby's or a new bride's first Lohri in Punjabi families.
Who was Dulla Bhatti?
Dulla Bhatti, Rai Abdullah Bhatti, was a rebel of the Sandal Bar in Punjab in Akbar's time, remembered as a Robin Hood who robbed the rich to help the poor. Punjab's story says he rescued girls being carried off to be sold, arranged their marriages and gave them away himself, which is what the Lohri song Sundar Mundriye sings.
What is the Lohri song Sundar Mundriye about?
It is a call-and-answer folk song that children sing from door to door. It asks who will look after the girl, and answers with Dulla Bhatti, who married off his daughter and gave a ser of sugar as her dowry. Families answer the singers with sweets, wood and money for the fire, and the boliyan follow around the bonfire.
How is the Lohri puja done, and what is put in the fire?
After dark the family lights a fire of dry wood and cow-dung cakes, bows to it, and throws in sesame, jaggery, rewri, popcorn and peanuts while saying the old line Ishar aa, dalidar ja. Everyone walks around the fire with folded hands, sings and dances, and shares the same sweets as prasad. There is no formal puja beyond this.
What time is the Lohri fire lit?
Lohri has no classical muhurat. The fire is lit after sunset (5:45 PM), once everyone has gathered; families who like an auspicious span light it within pradosh kaal (5:45 PM to 8:27 PM) or in a good choghadiya of the evening (Amrit: 5:45 PM to 7:26 PM; Chal: 7:26 PM to 9:07 PM; Labh: 15 Jan, 12:30 AM to 2:11 AM; Shubh: 15 Jan, 3:52 AM to 5:33 AM; Amrit: 15 Jan, 5:33 AM to 7:14 AM).
What does Lohri mean?
The origin of the name is not certain. Folk explanations tie it to tilorhi, sesame and jaggery, or to loh, the iron griddle on which the season's rotis are made; whatever its root, the word now means the bonfire night itself, and the gift of sweets and money given to the singing children.
Is Lohri the same as Makar Sankranti?
No. Lohri is the bonfire night on the eve of Makar Sankranti. The next morning, when the Sun has entered Makara, Punjab keeps Maghi with a dip and kheer of sugarcane juice, and the rest of India keeps Makar Sankranti, Pongal, Uttarayan or Magh Bihu.
In which states is Lohri celebrated?
Mainly in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Delhi, and wherever Punjabi families live, including Canada and the UK. Sindhi families keep the same night as Lal Loi, and in Jammu boys dance from house to house with the chajja, a paper peacock.
How is a baby's or a bride's first Lohri celebrated?
The family invites relatives and neighbours, lights a larger fire, and distributes rewri, gajak, peanuts and sweets. The baby, in new clothes, or the newly-weds are seated near the fire for the elders' blessings, and the evening goes on with songs and bhangra. Families now celebrate a daughter's first Lohri as joyfully as a son's.
What food is eaten on Lohri?
Rewri, gajak, roasted peanuts, popcorn and til laddoos around the fire, and sarson da saag with makki di roti, white butter and jaggery for dinner. Rau di kheer, rice cooked in sugarcane juice, is made for Maghi the next morning.
What is the difference between Lohri and Baisakhi?
Lohri is the winter festival on the eve of Makar Sankranti, a bonfire night after the sugarcane harvest and the sowing of wheat. Baisakhi comes in April with Mesha Sankranti, when the wheat is ready to cut; it is Punjab's harvest festival and new year, and for Sikhs the day the Khalsa was founded.
