Holi, the festival of colors is the most bright and energetic of all Hindu festivals. On this joyful day, people play with colors, meet and welcome each other, forget and forgive, and fix separate bonds and make a fresh start to the day. The Holi Festival is a delightful and interesting cultural celebration that bound much more than just throwing colored tint in the air.
Significance of Holi in India
Holi is a traditional festival of Hinduism that has been observed since the olden days.
The festival marks the victory of good over evil. It is celebrated to welcome spring, end of winter, growing love, and strengthen unity in the society. On this day people do not characterize between the rich and poor and everyone observes the festival together with a sense of friendliness and fellowship.
People visit friends and relatives and exchange gifts, sweets, and greetings in the evening. This helps in boosting relationships and making strong emotional bonds between them. The festival also marks the beginning of a pleasant spring harvest season.
Date and Timing of Holika Dahan and Rang Bhari Holi
According to the Hindu Panchang, Holi Festival is celebrated on the last full moon day of the lunar month of Phalguna Maas, which is basically around the end of March. The specific date of Holi may differ from every year.
This year in 2021, the festival will be celebrated in the nation on Sunday, March 28, and Monday, March 29.
Holika Dahan– Sunday, March 28, 2021
Holika Dahan Muhurt – 06:37 PM to 08:56 PM
Duration – 02 Hours 20 Mins
Holika Dahan during Pradosh Purnima-
Purnima Tithi Begins – 03:27 AM on Mar 28, 2021
Purnima Tithi Ends – 12:17 AM on Mar 29, 2021
Rangwali Holi on Monday, March 29, 2021
Bhadra Punchha – 10:13 AM to 11:16 AM
Bhadra Mukha – 11:16 AM to 01:00 PM
Note – If you wish to know all about Holi Celebration in Hindi, please visit here होली और होलिका दहन.
How Holi is Celebrated?
There are several rituals of Colorful Holi Celebration in India:
Preparing the Holika Bonfire
In most of the regions, people start collecting wood and other inflammable things for the bonfire from the Basant Panchami ritual. The inflammable items are then assembled in a bonfire in different village fields, colonies, community centers, parks, or other open grounds in cities. A statue of Holika is placed on top of the bonfire and an idol of Prahlada in between to be burned as per the tradition.
Holika Dahan
The first day of the festival is observed as Chhoti Holi or Holika Dahan. Following the Hindu Panchang, behind the sunset, at the auspicious time, people gather all around the bonfire and perform traditional puja and then fire it. Generally, people sing and dance around the bonfire, which remarks the victory of good over evil. On the evening of the festival, huge bonfires are lit in several regions of India to symbolize the burning of evil energies. Usually, in some places, people throw wood, dried leaves and twigs, and even their evil habits and thoughts into the bonfires.
Rangwali Holi
The second day of Holi is called Badi Holi, Rangwali Holi, Dhulendhi, Dhulandi, or Phagwah. On this day, people apply and throw different dried colors called abeer or gulal or wet colors to each other, organize parties with full enjoyment. Also, children play in groups with abeer or gulal, pichkaris (water guns), water balloons filled with colored mixtures, and extra creative things. Several groups of people with drums and other musical instruments on streets might have seen, dancing and singing on road from one place to another. Most people already make themselves by putting oil or other different things on their skin and hair to later remove the color easily.
The Unique Delight
In India during the Holi festival, a special sweet “Gujhiya” is prepared in most families. It is filled with dairy products khoya and dried fruits. In some cultures, usually, a traditional drink “Thandai” is prepared, which contains bhang. Other mouth-watering delicious enjoyed are rasgulle, gulab jamum, malpuas, gol gappe, dal kachori, kanji vada, dahi bhalle, chole bhature, and different types of namkeen such as mathari, namak pare, etc.
The Evening Celebration
On the eve of the festival, people put on new or clean clothes and visit their family and friends to share and exchange traditional sweets and other delicious items.
After playing with colors during the day, people take bathe and clean themselves and get dressed generally in new clothes. Then they visit their relatives and friends and greet them for the festival of colors.
Why do we celebrate Holi?
One of the main reasons for the Holi Festival is the celebration of the victory of good over evil.
Importance of Holika Dahan
The story behind Holika Dahan with Hiranyakashipu and Prahlad
According to Hindu Methodological story, a powerful king named Hiranyakashipu was a devil and was hated for his cruelty. He considered himself to be God and wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship him like one. However, his son, Prahlada, was a devotee of Lord Vishnu and refused to worship his father.
Angry with the disobedience of his son, Hiranyakashipu tried killing his son several times, but nothing worked. He then asked his evil sister, Holika, for help. Holika possessed a special power of being immune to fire. So, to kill Prahlada, she tricked him into sitting with her on a bonfire. But due to her evil intentions, her power became ineffective and she was burned to ashes. On the other hand, Prahlada gained this immunity and was saved. This is why the first day of Holi is celebrated as Holika Dahan and symbolizes the victory of good over evil.
Importance of Rangbhari Holi
The story behind Rangbhari Holi with Radha and Krishna
In Uttar Pradesh, a place called Braj where Lord Krishna grew up, Holi is celebrated until the day of Rangpanchmi as a grand festival, in memory of the devotional love of Krishna and Radha. When Krishna was a baby, he acquired a distinctive blue skin color after drinking the poisoned breast milk of the she-demon, Putana. Later, when he became young, he would often feel sad about whether the fair-colored Radha or other Gopi’s in the village would ever like him because of his dark color. Giving in to his hopelessness, Krishna’s mother asked him to go and color Radha’s face with any color he wanted to. So, when Krishna applied color to Radha, they both became a couple, and since then, people have started playing with colors on Holi.
Read also – India’s Most Famous Places to Celebrate Colorful Holi
