2022
Happy Holi
Holi (pronunciation: /ˈhoʊliː/; Sanskrit: होली Holī) is a Hindu spring festival in India and Nepal, also known as the "festival of colours" or the "festival of love".[7][1][8] The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair broken relationships, and is also celebrated as a thanksgiving for a good harvest.[9][10] It lasts for two days starting on the Purnima (Full Moon day) falling in the Bikram Sambat Hindu Calendar [11] month of Falgun, which falls somewhere between the end of February and the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar. The first day is known as Holika Dahan (हॊलिका दहन) or Chhoti Holi and the second as Rangwali Holi, Dhuleti, Dhulandi or Dhulivandan.[12]
Holi is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well as people of other communities outside Asia.[9] It is celebrated at the approach of the spring equinox,[9] on the Phalguna Purnima (Full Moon). The festival date, which is determined by the Hindu calendar, varies from year to year on the Gregorian calendar, typically coming in March, sometimes in February. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, and their diaspora in other regions of the world. In recent years the festival has spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colours.[13][14][15]
Holi celebrations start on the night before Holi with a Holika bonfire where people gather, do religious rituals in front of the bonfire, and pray that their internal evil should be destroyed as the bonfire starts. The next morning is celebrated as Rangwali Holi - a free-for-all carnival of colours,[9] where participants play, chase and colour each other with dry powder and coloured water, with some carrying water guns and coloured water-filled balloons for their water fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders. The frolic and fight with colours occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings. Groups carry drums and other musical instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance. People visit family, friends and foes to throw coloured powders on each other, laugh and gossip, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks.[16][17] Some customary drinks such as those that include bhang (marijuana) are intoxicating.[18][19] In the evening, after sobering up, people dress up and visit friends and family.[5][16]
Wish you a Happy Holi
Holi is an ancient Hindu festival with its cultural rituals. It is mentioned in the Puranas, Dasakumara Charita, and by the poet Kālidāsa during the 4th century reign of Chandragupta II.[7] The celebration of Holi is also mentioned in the 7th-century Sanskrit drama Ratnavali.[48] The festival of Holi caught the fascination of European traders and British colonial staff by the 17th century. Various old editions of Oxford English Dictionary mention it, but with varying, phonetically derived spellings: Houly (1687), Hooly (1698), Huli (1789), Hohlee (1809), Hoolee (1825), and Holi in editions published after 1910.[9]
There are several cultural rituals associated with Holi:[49]
Prepare Holika pyre for bonfire
Main article: Holika Dahan
Days before the festival people start gathering wood and combustible materials for the bonfire in parks, community centers, near temples and other open spaces. On top of the pyre is an effigy to signify Holika who tricked Prahalad into the fire. Inside homes, people stock up on pigments, food, party drinks and festive seasonal foods such as gujiya, mathri, malpuas and other regional delicacies.
Holika dahan
On the eve of Holi, typically at or after sunset, the pyre is lit, signifying Holika Dahan. The ritual symbolises the victory of good over evil. People gather around the fire to sing and dance.[10]
Play with colours
Holi frolic and celebrations begin the morning after the Holika bonfire. There is no tradition of holding puja (prayer), and the day is for partying and pure enjoyment. Children and young people form groups armed with dry colours, coloured solution and water guns(pichkaris), water balloons filled with coloured water, and other creative means to colour their targets.[49]
Traditionally, washable natural plant-derived colours such as turmeric, neem, dhak, and kumkum were used, but water-based commercial pigments are increasingly used. All colours are used. Everyone in open areas such as streets and parks is game, but inside homes or at doorways only dry powder is used to smear each other's face. People throw colours and get their targets completely coloured up. It is like a water fight, but with coloured water. People take delight in spraying coloured water on each other. By late morning, everyone looks like a canvas of colours. This is why Holi is given the name "Festival of Colours".
Groups sing and dance, some playing drums and dholak. After each stop of fun and play with colours, people offer gujiya, mathri, malpuas and other traditional delicacies.[51] Cold drinks, including adult drinks based on local intoxicating herbs,[19] are also part of the Holi festivity.
Other variations
In the Braj region around Mathura, in north India, the festivities may last more than a week. The rituals go beyond playing with colours, and include a day where men go around with shields and women have the right to playfully beat them on their shields with sticks.[52]
In south India, some worship and make offerings to Kaamadeva, the love god of Indian mythology.
The after party
After a day of play with colours, people clean up, wash and bathe, sober up and dress up in the evening and greet friends and relatives by visiting them and exchanging sweets. Holi is also a festival of forgiveness and new starts, which ritually aims to generate harmony in the society.[49]
Holi (Hind
Thanks Everyone.
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Play a Safe Holi
