Holi - The Festival of Colors and Spring

"HOLI HAI!" - It is holi! On Holi day the streets in India will reverberate with the chants of Holi hai...

It's holiday time in my family again. The colorful festival of Holi is celebrated on Phalgun Purnima which comes in February end or early March. This year the festival is on Sunday, March 20. The Holi festival has an ancient origin and celebrates the triumph of 'good' over 'bad'. The colorful festival bridges the social gap and renew sweet relationships.

The Atmosphere:

Colours will fill the atmosphere as people throw colorful powders 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.

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.

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. These home made colours, have a special fragrance of love in them.

History:

The exact origin of the festival can not be found, though several historians claim that the Holi celebration in the country was brought along with the Aryans. Long ago, Holi was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness, well-being and prosperity of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped for bringing auspiciousness and pleasure.

What does this festival celebrate?

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. 

 

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 OgressDhundhi and Pootana. All depict triumph of good over evil - lending a philosophy to the festival.

How is Holi celebrated?

 

The main day of Holi is called Dhuleti. This is the day that the actual play of colors take place. There is no tradition of holding a puja (a common Hindu ritual) and is meant for pure enjoyment. It is common to wear white on Dhuleti. The tradition of playing colors is particularly rampant in India. It may be one of the most excited festivals one can witness. Holi is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and fun.
People take extreme delight in spraying colour water on each other with pichkaris (water guns) or pouring buckets and buckets of it. Singing Bollywood Holi numbers and dancing on the beat of dholak (drum) is also a part of the tradition.

My temple in Harrisburg will be having a small colors celebration on March 20.