One of the much-anticipated festivals is here and that is “Holi”!! It is the festival of colors which is celebrated every year with both excitement and love. This colorful festival is celebrated in every corner of the country with great enthusiasm and in unique custom ways to mark the beginning of spring. The Holi is a Hindu festival and celebrates the arrival of the spring season. This festival is celebrated usually in the second week of March. The festival is celebrated by holding lots of faiths both for young and adults. But why do we celebrate Holi festival?
Like the other festivals, Holi is also celebrated differently by different groups of people having different faiths and backgrounds. But what remains the same is the warmth and spirit of this day. Whether you are lighting Holika, Bonfire, or playing with the colors. Holi is a wonderful occasion for celebrating and bringing the community together. It can also be celebrated as the triumph of bad over good.
Why do we celebrate Holi Festival in India?
The festival Holi celebrates the Legend of Radha and Krishna that describes the extreme delight that Lord Krishna took in applying color on Radha and other gopis. Also, this prank of Krishna later became a trend and a part of the Holi festivities.
Some of the methodologies also state that Holi is the celebration of the death of Ogress Pootana who tried to kill the infant, Lord Krishna by feeding poisonous milk to it. Another legend of Holi that is extremely popular in Southern India is that of Lord Shiva and Kamadeva. The people in the South celebrate the sacrifice of passion Kaamadeva who risked his life to revoke Lord Shiva from meditation and thus save the world.
Also, popular is the legend of Ogress Dhundhi who used to trouble their children in the kingdom of Raghu and thus was ultimately chased away by the pranks of the children on the day of Holi. While showing their belief in the legend, the children to date play the pranks at the time of Holika Dahan.
Importance of Holi:
Well, festivals are all about spreading love to your family, community, and friends. It gives the people an ample number of reasons to reunite. In India, which is home to diverse faiths and cultures, the festivals have more profound significance. In March people gets themselves drenched in colors and thus look forward to celebrating Holi with friends and families.
Holi the festival of colors is the most vibrant in all Hindu festivals. It marks the end of the winter season in India. On this festive day, people have been seen to play and enjoy with colors. They meet and greet one another to start with the new beginnings.
The festival Holi is an annual ancient Hindu festival and this festival is celebrated in India and various parts of the world. It doesn’t matter whether the people are rich or poor all of us can celebrate Holi with each other in numerous colors. This festival begins on the evening of the full moon of the month of Phalgun. On this day we paint each other and the festival Holi is played in various places of India. Moreover, this festival is played in the honor of Lord Vishnu and his followers and is celebrated for the good of evil over evil. These were the reasons that why do we celebrate Holi festival.
How do we celebrate Holi?
The festival Holi begins with a large bonfire where people gather and perform religious rituals and prayers in a hope that evil will get destroyed in the bonfire. This day brings real fun and happiness to the people to throw color powders at anyone that they see in the street.
Celebrating the colorful festivals brings lots of happiness and also involves some basic rituals:
1: Preparing Holi pyre:
A few days before the festival, people start collecting the wood and inflammable things that are used for the bonfire. All the combustible materials are gathered in a pyre. And on the top of the pyre, the Holika is placed to be burned as per the legend.
2: Holika Dahan:
The first day of the festival is usually gets celebrated as Holika Dahan or can term as Chotti Holi. After the sunset, people gathered around the pyre and perform the puja and then lighten it. Moreover, people sing and dance around the pyre and symbolize the victory of good over bad.
3: Playing with colors:
The second day of Holi is known as Rangwali or Badi Holi. On this day people apply colors to one another, party, and enjoy. The children and youngsters play in groups with dry colors called gulal, or pichkaris. The water balloons are filled with colored solutions and some other creative things. Besides, you might even find a group of peoples with drums and some other musical instruments. They start dancing or singing on the street and visits from one place to another.
4: The special feast:
Gujiya is a special sweet and has been made in every household in India during the Holi festival. It is a dumpling filled with khoya which is a dairy product and dried fruits. One of the famous customary drinks of Holi is Thandai. It generally contains bhang. The other mouth-watering delicious foods are Gol Gappa, dal kachori , chaat pappri, and a variety of nankeen foods.
Why is Holi celebrated with colors?
The most popular reason for celebrating Holi is Lord Krishna and Radha’s love story. When Lord Krishna was born they had an inferiority complex in their body color. And when they came to Radha they think that Radha would not talk to him due to the color difference between both of them. It was then Krishna’s mother who advised him to put the color on Radha and then they both didn’t look different at all.
The Holi festival is always celebrated in the best manner. From Kashmir to Kerala or from Gujarat to Assam, Holi is celebrated in different ways throughout the country. The red color reflects fertility; Blue symbolizes the color for Krishna, Yellow is the color of turmeric and green signifies the start of spring. Apart from this, the holi is also played with flower petals like roses, daisies, sunflowers, and even marigolds.
Sing and dance to the beat of dholak:
Dholak is a hand-drum that is being played at the celebrations like Holi. So, enjoy the celebration by either dancing in the colors or beat the dholak or sing the holi songs. Let your body move the beat while celebrating the coming of spring.
At the end of the evening when the celebration of the colors has restrained then many people like to visit their friends and families to enjoy the evening. The holi is meant to bring altogether the community so it culminates and relishing your day festivities.
Traditional Celebration of Holi:
On this prosperous day, people usually play with colored powders and water. They wear white-colored dresses and color each other with fun and frolic. In short, the whole atmosphere is filled with liveliness and enjoyment. Meanwhile, people also play music and Holi special songs on loudspeakers and do dancing with their friends and families. On this day children find themselves very excited about this festival and throw water-filled balloons on each other. They eat different types of special traditional food items on this day. Gujiya is one of the most popular sweet that is exchanged and eaten widely by people on the day of Holi.
Some of the important tips to remember for celebrating Holi with your family:
1: On this day you can tell your children about the story of Prahlad and explain why Holi is celebrated.
2: You can dress your children in White dress and encourage them to play Holi with all.
3: Give sweets, Gujiyaas, and colors to needy children.
4: You can put some Gulaal on the elder’s feet and seek them for blessings.
5: The festival Holi is a fun-filled celebration and it is generally being done in crowds. You can celebrate this festival by getting yourself drenched in colors.
6: You need to remember that the Holi powders are not completely natural and they might also contain some chemicals. These colors are sold loose so, if you are allergic or have sensitive skin then stays away from the colors.
7: You can protect your skin by smearing a generous amount of moisturizer, cold cream, or coconut oil and it would also protect the skin and not allow the powder to enter or stick too hard on the skin.
8: On this day, you can wear old clothes and footwear because the dyes don’t go away even after several washes.
9: You can try to keep a large pair of sunglasses even if it is not sunny outside.
10: Cover your head with a shower cap or wrap an old scarf so that the dyes don’t affect your hair.
11: The festival Holi is celebrated in a lively manner throughout India. You also need to remember that the locals will throw color, water at strangers without considering their attire. So, it is important to protect yourself from all these harmful things. Also, if you want to take part in the color festival then you need to apply a thick layer of coconut oil to both your hair and body. Thus, it will help you to remove the colors easily after completing the festival.
Holi Safety Concerns:
The festival Holi is meant to celebrate the pure joy and happiness of the victory of good over evil. Moreover, it whilst people to take the streets with the goal in the mind that they have to fight with the colors. But every year there are crimes committed during the festival Holi ranging from petty to more serious.
Holi is a concern for female travelers too. In large crowds during the celebrations, most of the men feel that they can get away with inappropriate touching. Thus, it is an issue for both Indian women and foreign travelers. During Holi, the colored powders that are been used are beautiful but they contain harsh chemicals too.
When the person participated in the color fight then it’s obvious that you need to protect your skin, hair, eyes, and mouth. Besides it, you will also need to be careful when washing off the colors because sometimes harsh soaps can dry out both your skin and hair.
How you can celebrate Eco-Friendly Holi?
You can celebrate eco-friendly Holi with eco-friendly colors. Try to make ec0-friendly colors by using different fruits and flowers at home as well. You can easily get eco-friendly colors in the market. Besides it, you can also encourage others to play eco-friendly Holi by distributing eco-friendly colors to your near and dear ones. It will also discourage them to buy chemical-based colors.
On the occasion of Holi, you can plan with your friends and neighbors to start selling eco-friendly colors. Moreover, you can start a campaign with your friends and neighbors to support eco-friendly Holi. On this prosperous day, you can start supporting such campaigns to protect our nature. Also, at the same time, you can make use of plastic bags and water balloons during Holi should be prevented too.
Save Water:
When you are trying to promoting eco-friendly Holi you can also encourage people to avoid using water during the Holi festival. We all are familiar that a lot of water is wasted during the festival season Holi and at this time-saving water is a must as it has been found that there is a shortage of water in various states. Thus, you need to play Holi without using water.
However, if we use natural colors and play Holi festival without wasting water then we can surely achieve our goal of protecting nature and ourselves through eco-friendly Holi. So you need to try to promote the Save Water motto and these times during the Holi festival don’t forget to implement yourself first.
The Bottom line:
The question that why do we celebrate Holi festival is clear by now. In the end, the festival Holi is not just about drenching colors, but the festival of colors is also about love, joy, happiness, and care. It is a festival where the atmosphere is filled with mischief people who immerse in colors and gorge the Holi delicacies. So, on this Holi, if playing with colors and water is your idea then play it safely without harming anyone else.
Remember that the pichkaries and water balloons provide more harm than fun. Also, you cannot forget the efforts and pain that you get rid of when removing these colors. So, why bother Mother Nature for our celebration? Let’s stop exploiting nature and organically play the festival Holi.
Important Note: At the festival, don’t throw colors on animals or pets as it can irritate them a lot. So, try to play a safe Holi!
Wishing you a Happy and Safe Holi to you and your family!!!
Note: If you want to know the importance of celebrating Diwali, then read this blog.
