Pongal, Lohri, Bihu, Makar Sankranti: Different Names, Same Need for Gratitude

Somewhere between the smell of jaggery boiling over in a clay pot, the crackle of a Lohri bonfire, and kites fighting for airspace on Makar Sankranti, India quietly practices one of its most underrated mental health rituals - gratitude.

Long before gratitude journals, affirmations, or “manifesting reels,” we had harvest festivals. And psychologically speaking, they were doing a lot of emotional heavy lifting.

Different Names, One Feeling

In the South, Pongal arrives with kolams at the doorstep, sugarcane leaning against walls, and pots intentionally boiling over, because abundance, apparently, should never be subtle. In the North, Lohri gathers people around fire, singing, throwing peanuts and popcorn into flames like small offerings to warmth and hope. Across many parts of India, Makar Sankranti turns the sky into a negotiation arena of kites, strings, and competitive joy.

Different rituals, different climates, different foods but emotionally, the message is the same: Pause. Acknowledge. Celebrate what sustained you.

Psychologists would call this collective gratitude, a shared moment of recognising effort, survival, and nourishment, not just materially but emotionally.

Back in the 80s and 90s…

If you grew up in the 80s or 90s, harvest festivals felt slower and louder in the right ways. Families travelled long distances without Google Maps. Grandparents explained rituals with stories instead of YouTube links. Sweets were homemade, not ordered in bulk. Clothes smelled like sun-dried cotton, not delivery packaging.

Children didn’t ask why, they just knew something important was happening. There was a rhythm: cleaning, cooking, praying, laughing, eating, resting. That rhythm itself was regulating.

Today, festivals are still celebrated, but often squeezed between meetings, notifications, and “just one more email.” Gratitude competes with deadlines. Celebration shares space with content creation. The festival hasn’t lost meaning, we’ve just compressed it.

Why Harvest Festivals Feel Emotionally Nourishing

From a psychological lens, harvest festivals align beautifully with human emotional needs. They validate effort. Farming communities waited months for results; celebrating the harvest reinforced patience and hope. For the brain, this creates a reward loop i.e. effort followed by acknowledgement.

These festivals also create predictable joy. In uncertain times, predictable rituals provide safety. The nervous system relaxes when it knows, This comes every year. I am held by this cycle.

And then there’s food, warm, shared, familiar. Neuroscience shows that shared meals reduce stress hormones and increase bonding hormones like oxytocin. That second helping of Sakkarai pongal or Til-gud ladoo isn’t indulgence, it’s emotional regulation.

North, South, East, West - Same Soul

Pongal thanks the Sun, the land, the cattle, and the people who made survival possible. Lohri celebrates warmth, fertility, and community during the harshest winter nights. Makar Sankranti marks the sun’s northward journey, a symbolic shift toward longer days and optimism.

In Assam, Bihu dances energy into the new agricultural cycle. In Maharashtra, til-gud isn’t just sweet, it’s an invitation to soften words and relationships. Everywhere, gratitude is expressed not through silence but through sound, taste, colour, and movement.

A Gentle Humour in It All

It’s funny how we thank nature once a year but complain about traffic daily. We celebrate abundance but stress about leftovers. We honour the sun, then forget to step outside.

Yet somehow, during these festivals, even briefly, we remember.

Why We Still Need This Today

In an age of constant wanting, harvest festivals remind us of having. They teach us that happiness isn’t only about what’s next, it’s about noticing what arrived. Psychologically, gratitude shifts attention from scarcity to sufficiency. It doesn’t deny struggle; it contextualises it. And perhaps that’s why these festivals have survived centuries; because humans, across time, need reminders that effort matters and cycles continue.

So whether you call it Pongal, Lohri, Bihu or Makar Sankranti, may your pot overflow, your fire stay warm, and your heart remember to say: This was enough. This is enough.

Written By : R. Sagarikaa, Editorial Head