Celebrations

=HOLI FESTIVAL =

In India the colorful festival of Holi is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima which comes at the end of February or in early March. The Holi festival has an ancient origin and celebrates the triumph of 'good' over 'bad'. The colorful festival bridges the social gap and renews relationships. On this day people hug and wish each other 'Happy Holi'.

=**THE FESTIVAL OF COLOURS** =


 * [[image:http://www.holifestival.org/gifs/festival-of-colours.jpg width="235" height="179" align="right" caption="Festival of Colours"]] ||
 * HOLI HAI...** Come holi and the streets will reverberate with the chants of Holi hai...
 * HOLI HAI...** Come holi and the streets will reverberate with the chants of Holi hai...

Colours will fill the atmosphere as people throw abeer and gulal in the air showing great joy and mirth in the arrival of this Spring Festival. Holi marks the end of the winter gloom and rejoices in the bloom of the spring time. It is the best time and season to celebrate; Holi provides this opportunity and people take every advantage of it.

Days before Holi, the markets get flooded with the colours of every hues. This aptly sets the mood of the people till the actual day of Holi. It is such a colourful and joyous sight to watch huge piles of bright red, magenta, pink, green and blue every where on the streets. Buying those colours seems as you are bringing joys and colour to your home and into your life.

Children take special delight in the festival and demand every colour in loads. They have so many plans in their mind. They have to be the first to apply colour to Mama, Papa, siblings and a big bunch of friends in their colony. Nobody could miss being coloured by them and of course, they need colour for that.

These days it is easy to buy colours from the market but still some people do take up the task of making colours at home, usually from flowers of **tesu** and **palash.** These home made colours, have a special fragrance of love in them.

The other option is to buy gulal which comes in bright shades of pink, magenta, red, yellow and green. **'Abeer'** is made of small crystals or paper like chips of mica. This is mixed with the gulal for a rich shine. Mischievous ones, however, go for silver and gold paints on which no colour could be applied.

Whatever be the choice of colour, nobody remains in their original texture at the end of the play. And everybody takes delight looking at the other. Really, the other name of the festival is FUN.

And, it is not just children, but the young and the old alike who take delight in this joyous festival of colours. Seniors too, move in their tolis. Their enthusiasm is at times greater than that of their children as they forget the bars of age and follow their hearts. To youth, holi gives a chance to explore the heights of their enthusiasm as they climb the human pyramids to break the pot of buttermilk and to express their love to their beloved by applying colour.

For, Holi knows no bars, everybody feels it is their right to enjoy and enjoy they do. Songs, dance, drinks, food everything goes in excess when it is time for Holi. It can be said, "Life turns Colourful" when it is time for Holi.

media type="file" key="Holi - festival of colors.flv"

=HISTORY OF HOLI FESTIVAL =

Holi is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as **'Holika'.** The festivals finds a detailed description in early religious works such as **Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras.** Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India.

It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However, the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years. Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped.


 * Calculating the Day of Holi**

There are two ways of reckoning a lunar month- 'purnimanta' and 'amanta'. In the former, the first day starts after the full moon; and in the latter, after the new moon. Though the amanta reckoning is more common now, the purnimanta was very much in vogue in the earlier days.

According to this purnimanta reckoning, Phalguna purnima was the last day of the year and the new year heralding the Vasanta-ritu (with spring starting from next day). Thus the full moon festival of Holika gradually became a festival of merrymaking, announcing the commencement of the spring season. This perhaps explains the other names of this festival - **Vasanta-Mahotsava and Kama-Mahotsava.**


 * Legends** **and Mythology**

In some parts of India, specially in Bengal and Orissa, Holi Purnima is also celebrated as the birthday of **Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (**A.D. 1486-1533). However, the literal meaning of the word 'Holi' is 'burning'. There are various legends to explain the meaning of this word, most prominent of all is the legend associated with demon king Hiranyakashyap.

Hiranyakashyap wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship only him but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. Hiaranyakashyap commanded his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap. Holika had a boon whereby she could enter fire without any damage on herself. However, she was not aware that the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone. As a result she paid a price for her sinister desires, while Prahlad was saved by the grace of the god for his extreme devotion. The festival, therefore, celebrates the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of devotion.

Legend of Lord Krishna is also associated with play with colors as the Lord started the tradition of play with colours by applying colour on his beloved Radha and other gopis. Gradually, the play gained popularity with the people and became a tradition.

There are also a few other legends associated with the festival - like the legend of Shiva and Kaamadeva and those of Ogress Dhundhi and Pootana. All depict triumph of good over evil - lending a philosophy to the festival.

=RITUALS OF HOLI FESTIVAL =

Rituals of the ancient festival of Holi are religiously followed every year with care and enthusiasm.
 * [[image:http://www.holifestival.org/gifs/rituals-of-holi.jpg width="235" height="179" align="right" caption="Rituals of Holi"]] ||
 * [[image:http://www.holifestival.org/gifs/rituals-of-holi.jpg width="235" height="179" align="right" caption="Rituals of Holi"]] ||


 * Preparations**

Days before the festival people start gathering wood for the lighting of the bonfire called Holika at the major crossroads of the city. This ensures that at the time of the actual celebration a huge pile of wood is collected.


 * Holika Dahan Celebrations**

Then on the eve of Holi, Holika Dahan takes place. Effigy of Holika, the devil minded sister of demon King Hiranyakashyap is placed in the wood and burnt. For, Holika tried to kill Hiranyakashyap's son **Prahlad**, an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. The ritual symbolises the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of a true devotee.

Children also hurl abuses at Holika and pray pranks, as if they still try to chase away **Dhundhi** who once troubled little ones in the Kingdom of **Prithu.** Some people also take embers from the fire to their homes to rekindle their own domestic fires.


 * Play of Colors**

Next day, is of course the main day of Holi celebrations. The day is called Dhuleti and it is on this day that the actual play of colours take place. There is no tradition of holding puja and is meant for pure enjoyment. The tradition of playing colours is particularly rampant in north India and even in that region, there can be no comparison to the Holi of **Mathura** and **Vrindavan**. In Maharashtra and Gujarat too Holi is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and fun.

People take extreme delight in spraying colour water on each other with pichkaris or pouring buckets and buckets of it. Singing Bollywood Holi numbers and dancing on the beat of dholak is also a part of the tradition. Amidst all this activity people relish **gujiya, mathri, malpuas** and other traditional Holi delicacies with great joy.

Drinks, specially thandai laced with **bhang** is also an intrinsic part of the Holi festivity. Bhang helps to further enhance the spirit of the occasion but if taken in excess it might dampen it also. So caution should be taken while consuming it.


 * Holi Celebrations in South India**

In south India, however, people follow the tradition of worshiping Kaamadeva, the love god of Indian mythology. People have faith in the legend which speak about the great sacrifice of Kaamadeva when he shot his love arrow on Lord Shiva to break his meditation and evoke his interest in worldly affairs.

After, an eventful and funfilled day people become a little sober in the evening and greet friends and relatives by visiting them and exchange sweets. Holi special get togethers are also organised by various cultural organisations to generate harmony and brotherhood in the society.

media type="file" key="Getting painted at the Holi Festival in India - BBC.flv" width="360" height="270"

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