Indian Festivals Holi

Holi is one of the most colorful and celebrated festivals observed across all regions of India. The Festival is very popular due to the widespread use of colors during the festivities.

Holi has been a traditional celebration to welcome spring as well as give thanks for an abundant harvest and celebrate soil fertility across all regions of India. Apart from the more popular activity of spraying of color, the festival is marked with a series of observances, prayers and culinary festivities.

Holi is also commemorated by devout Hindus as a celebration marking the triumph of righteousness and religious devotion over evil and egotism. The legend of Holi originates from the story of Hiranyakashipu, the king of demons who in a fit of egotistic rage condemned his son Pralahda to death by fire for being a devotee to the Hindu deity Vishnu. As part of his sentencing, the sister of the king called Holika who was impervious to fire was to sit with Pralahda in a bonfire and ensure his death. However as the fire raged Prahlada extolled the virtues of Vishnu, as the true God of the righteous, which saved him and instead burnt his invincible aunt Holika in the process. Hindus mark the occurrence as signifying the victory of faith and righteousness over ego and strength.

Holi – Celebrating the triumph of righteousness in a splash of color

Holi therefore takes its name from the deceased villainess of the story Holika. Around India, the festival is traditionally celebrated with great zeal and fervor with devotees lighting bonfires, singing hymns and spraying anyone within range with colored dye as well as colored powder.

Holi is celebrated every year across India during the period called the “Phaluga Purnima” which is always a full moon and falls on dates between February and March according to the Gregorian calendar. The Holi Festival is also called many different names across India such as Phakuwa, Dol Jatra, Jatra, Sigmo and Phagwa etc.

Different regions of India celebrate Holi festivities at varying lengths. In Northern India, in cities like Mathura which is the birth place of Lord Krishna, another deity honored during Holi, the festival is marked by special prayer sessions and festivities lasting for over 16 days. Most regions however generally celebrate Holi for a period of 3 to 7 days, with the day of the festival of colors and bonfires marking the high-point of the celebrations.

While the spraying of colors and the lighting of bonfires are the common threads of all Holi festivities across India, there are distinct variations in the commemoration of Holi in many different regions which gives Holi a unique character across various parts of India.

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