Phagganਫੱਗਣ

Phaggan is the twelfth and last month of the Nanakshahi calendar, the Sikh solar year. It runs from 12 February to 13 March, gaining a thirty first day in a leap year, and it is the height of spring in Punjab: the mustard stands ripe for harvest, the wheat ears are filling out, and the full moon of Phaggan brings the bonfire of Holika Dahan and the colours of Holi. When Phaggan closes, the year turns: the next morning is 1 Chet, New Year's Day, and close behind it comes Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib.

What is Phaggan in the Nanakshahi calendar?

In the fixed Nanakshahi system adopted by the SGPC in 2003, Phaggan always begins on 12 February. It follows Magh and is the last of the twelve months whose names come from the Barah Maha hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib. Phaggan normally has 30 days and ends on 13 March. The calendar's leap day is placed here, in the final month, rather than in February: in a Nanakshahi leap year Phaggan has 31 days and ends on 14 March, and the new year begins the following morning. The full set of months is gathered on the Desi Mahine page.

One honest note on dates: while the Nanakshahi months themselves are fixed, the famous festival cluster of this season, Holi and Hola Mohalla among them, is still kept by the traditional Bikrami tithis, so its Gregorian dates move slightly from year to year, falling in early to mid March, on the border between Phaggan and Chet.

The season in Punjab: spring at its peak

Phaggan is Basant in full flower. The days are warm and bright, the mornings still cool, and the countryside is at its most generous: trees that stood bare in Poh are in leaf and blossom, and the fields wear green and gold together. Punjabis sum the month up in a saying: “Phaggan phal laggan”, Phaggan is when the fruit sets. The plants that flowered at Basant now begin to bear, and everything in the natural world seems to be swelling toward the harvest.

Farming in Phaggan

Phaggan is the busiest hinge of the farming year. The mustard crop, yellow with flower in Magh, now turns to pod and seed; through Phaggan the pods ripen and dry, and by the month's end the first mustard is being cut in the warmer districts. The wheat, the great rabi harvest, stands tall with its ears formed and the grain filling inside them. Farmers watch the weather closely now, because unseasonal rain or hail can flatten a year's work only weeks before the Vaisakh harvest. Orchards set their fruit, green fodder is plentiful, and cattle thrive on the spring grazing.

Holi, and the road to Hola Mohalla

The full moon of Phaggan brings the fire that opens Holi. On the night of the Purnima, the full moon of the lunar month of Phalguna, bonfires are lit for Holika Dahan, and the colours of Holi are played the next morning, on the first day of lunar Chet. The festival is fixed by the lunar tithi rather than the Nanakshahi date, which is why its Gregorian day moves within the season, usually falling in early to mid March. In Punjab the colour throwing often begins days before the main day, and the streets fill with gulal, coloured water and gujia sweets. The background and customs are told on our page about Holi.

For Sikhs, this season carries a second, martial festival. A day after Holi comes Hola Mohalla at Anandpur Sahib, instituted by Guru Gobind Singh Ji in 1701, two years after he created the Khalsa in the same city on Vaisakhi. Its first procession marched at Anandpur on 22 February 1701. Where Holi throws colour, Hola Mohalla displays discipline: mock battles, gatka swordsmanship, horse riding and tent pegging, contests of poetry, and great processions of Nihang Sikhs in blue and saffron. Phaggan is the doorway to it: the old year runs out in the colours of Holi, and the new year opens with the Khalsa in formation.

Phaggan in the Barah Maha

Both Barah Maha hymns of the Guru Granth Sahib end their journey through the year in Phaggan, and both end it in joy. Guru Arjan Dev Ji's Phaggan stanza in Raag Majh, the hymn read aloud in gurdwaras on every sangrand, opens: “ਫਲਗੁਣਿ ਅਨੰਦ ਉਪਾਰਜਨਾ ਹਰਿ ਸਜਣ ਪ੍ਰਗਟੇ ਆਇ ੤” “In Phaggan, bliss wells up for those to whom the Lord, the Friend, has been revealed.” Helped by the saints, the bride is united with her Lord; her resting place is beautiful, every comfort is hers, and sorrow can no longer find a home in her.

In Guru Nanak Dev Ji's Barah Maha in Raag Tukhari, Phaggan is the month of union: “ਫਲਗੁਣਿ ਮਨਿ ਰਹਸੀ ਪ੍ਰੇਮੁ ਸੁਭਾਇਆ ੤” “In Phaggan, her mind is enraptured, won over by the love of her Beloved.” She has given up her ego, the pull of worldly attachment is broken, and night and day she is filled with bliss. The soul bride, who searched through all twelve months, finds her Husband Lord in the home of her own heart. Guru Nanak then blesses the whole cycle: the twelve months, the seasons, the lunar and the solar days, the hours and the moments are all good, he sings, when the True One is met in the natural way. The year closes by teaching that no month is unlucky, and no day is wasted, for the one who has found God within.

The months around Phaggan

Phaggan follows Magh and hands the year over to Chet, the first month. The full set of twelve is gathered on the Desi Mahine page, and the calendar they belong to is explained on the Nanakshahi calendar page.

How many days are there in Phaggan?

Phaggan has 30 days in an ordinary year, from 12 February to 13 March. In a Nanakshahi leap year it has 31 days, ending on 14 March; the extra day is added to Phaggan so that every other month of the year keeps its fixed date.

Does Holi always fall in Phaggan?

Almost always, but not by rule. Holi follows the lunar tithis: Holika Dahan is lit on the full moon of Phaggan, and the colours are played the next morning, so the festival straddles the Phaggan and Chet boundary in most years, in early to mid March. Hola Mohalla, in turn, is kept a day after Holi.