Celebrating the Colors of Spring: The Joyous Festival of Holi

Holi festival is celebrated traditionally in India as well as in almost all the countries where Indians live. The festival of Holi is celebrated on the arrival of spring after winter. Every year Holi is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of March or April. This festival is celebrated in the form of colours, sweets and happiness.

Graphic created in Adobe Photoshop

The thumbnail of this post has my photo which is from last year. Last year I applied so much color on my face that my face could not be cleared for almost 5 days.

People get ready in the morning wearing white clothes and apply gulal to each other and congratulate each other on the holy festival of Holi. Today people like to play Holi with colors as well as water. Well, personally I also like water based Holi very much. On this day, people forget their personal issues, religion and caste and come together as one and apply gulal on their cheeks saying “Happy Holi”.

Holika Dahan also takes place a day before the main festival of Holi on which Holi colors are applied. This Holika Dahan is celebrated in the memory of devotees Prahlad and Holika. According to the historical story, there was a demon named Hiranyakashyap, this demon was blessed with immortality that he would neither die during the day nor at night, neither at the hands of humans nor at the hands of animals. In arrogance of this boon, Hiranyakashyap used to torture innocent mahatmas and civilians and even killed them. A son was born to Hiranyakashyap whose name was Prahlad. Prahlad was a devotee of Lord Vishnu since childhood and was engrossed in his worship.

Hiranyakashyap did not like this worship at all. He tried tirelessly to kill his own son but did not succeed and finally Hiranyakashyap sought help from his sister Holika. Holika had a chunari which never burnt in fire. Holika cleverly sits in the fire with Prahlad. As the flames grew brighter, devotee Prahlad started praising his idol Vishnu. Lord Vishnu passed Chunari from Holika to Prahlad due to which Holika got burnt and Prahlad was saved.

After this incident, Vishnu took the incarnation of Narasimha and killed Hiranyakashyap. To commemorate this event, Holika Dahan is celebrated every year by burning cakes made of cow dung and wood. I wish all you friends a very Happy Holi festival.