The Spring Festival of India, Holi – is a festival of colors,meant to welcome the Spring

HOLI  FESTIVAL

The Spring Festival of India, Holi – is a festival of colors. Celebrated in March or April according to the Hindu calendar, it was meant to welcome the Spring and win the blessings of Gods for good harvests and fertility of the land. Holi 2007 will be celebrated on Saturday, March 03rd. As with all the hindu festivals, there are many interesting legends attached to Holi, the most popular being that of Prince Prahlad, who was a devout follower of Lord Vishnu. It is the second most important festival of India after Diwali. Holi in India is a festival of fun and frolic and has been associated with the immortal love of Krishna and Radha. The exuberance and the festivity of the season is remarkable.

Unlike all the other festivals of India, Hindu Holi Festival is one such festival where one can put down the social taboos and indulge in the intoxicating drinks and sweets prepared by using opium. It is a festival of romance often represented by the love-play of Radha and Krishna. Brij Holi is famous all over the world for its gaiety in spirit. Each year, young and old, men and women, all indulge themselves in the spirit of colors and for once forget the social taboos. There are mouthwatering delicacies to savor such as ‘Gujhias’ and ‘Papris’ and there are interesting traditions and customs of Holi that have their own regional variances.

HOLI COLORS

Dry Holi colors known as ‘Gulal’ and wet colors or ‘Rang’ were originally prepared naturally from the flowers and other products that had dyeing properties. However with time, in the quest of more long-lasting and strong colors, chemically enhanced and artificial colors have come in vogue. The harmful effects of these chemicals on our body and eyes have forced us to do a turn-about to the natural colors. These natural holi colors are perfectly safe and do not cause any harm to skin or to the face. Also there is no trouble if these colors go into the eye and are also easy to take off after playing a good spirited Holi festival.

CUSTOMS OF HOLI

Holi is the festival of Spring, the festival of romance, the festival of the triumph of good over evil, a festival of colors and festival of fun and pranks. It is a festival to shake off the shackles of what is to be done and what is not to be done for once and loosen up a bit. It is a festival to let your hair down and do what you like, say what you like and meet and tease anybody you like. The best part is that all the offences and anger gets dissolved with one boisterous shout of ‘Bura na mano, holi hai!’ (Don’t be angry, it’s Holi!). This shout is considered to be a part of the long tradition of the festival of Holi. The festival is celebrated on the full-moon day of Phalguna, though it stretched up to a week in Northern India and six-day long in Manipur. As the tradition goes all the people gather around on a day before the Holi as we know it, it is the evening of bonfires. People light up bonfires of dead leaves, twigs and sticks and people dance and sing around it to welcome the Spring and commemorate the saving of Prahlad and burning of his wicked aunt Holika. People take embers from this holy fire to rekindle their own domestic fires.

In some communities, people roast barley seeds in the fire to eat and it is believed that the yield of the coming harvest season can be predicted by reading the direction of the flames or the state of the roasted seeds. The ashes of the Holi fire are believed to have some medicinal properties. Next morning, it is ‘Dhuledi’ or the main festival of colors where adults and kids alike splash each other with coloured powder and water jets known as ‘pichkaris’. Traditionally, only natural colors prepared from flowers and herbal products were used but today, artificial colors have taken over. Now people often use coloured foams and balloons filled with coloured water to pop-up at anybody they can play prank upon. The colour frenzy of oranges and reds, greens and blues, purples and blacks soon wash away all the enmity and hatred amongst the festival and serves to bring the community closer. Holi sweets and delicacies are an important part of the festival as one can relish ‘Gujhias’ in Northern India and ‘Puran Poli’ in Maharashtra. ‘Thandai’ (a cool drink of milk) mixed with ‘bhang’ (an intoxicating substance) is to be beware of, as it is very common during Holi.

HOLI CELEBRATIONS IN INDIA

Holi is one of the major festivals of India and is celebrated in most of the states of India. However, each region has its own variations of Holi with a large local influence. Let’s take a look at how Holi is celebrated in different states and regions of India:

North India:

Lord Krishna spent most of his childhood in Mathura and Vrindavana. He was the one to introduce the modern form of Holi and thus Holi is celebrated with great enthusiasm at these places for about a week. Situated in Uttar Pradesh, all the major temples of the region dedicated to Krishna and Radha celebrate Holi on a different day. In these parts celebrating Holi means getting drenched with coloured water during these celebrations is considered to be a blessing from god and is considered auspicious. Since Radha belonged to Barsana while Krishna belonged to Nandagaon, on the day of Holi, men from Nandagaon go to Barsana to celebrate Holi with the women there. The playful teasing of women and attempts to color them with ‘gulal’ and wet colors from ‘pichkari’ is returned by them by attempts to escape and beating the men with sticks to scamper them away.

Haryana:

In Haryana, the brides of the Hindu undivided families hang a pot of buttermilk high up in the streets as a challenge to their brother-in-laws, who try to get ot break the pot by forming a human pyramid to reach it. Women try to stop them by beating them with their saris rolled up as ropes. This mock-drama is staged to commemorate the playful pranks of child Krishna, who would steal milk, butter and curd from the cow maids’ houses. In the evening, the brother-in-laws bring sweetmeats for the women of the house for their contribution in keeping the family united.

Western India:

Like Haryana, Maharashtra and Gujarat also has mock-drama of Krishna trying to break the pots and steal the butter. Besides, the men of these states take out a grand procession while soaked with coloured water as they walk through the streets to make a mock alert call to ask people and women of the house to take care of their pots of butter and milk as Krishna may come in and steal them.

Eastern India:

In Bengal, Holi is called Dol Yatra (the Swing Festival) in which idols of Krishna and Radha are placed on swings and devotees take turns to swing them. Women perform devotional songs and dances around the swing as men spray coloured water and ‘Abeer’ (coloured powder) on them. However, the tradition is being lost in the modern wave and people play with coloured water and powders in the morning and then take out processions on the streets with music and drums while stained with Holi colors. Orissa has similar traditions as Bengal except for the fact that the idol of Jagannath is placed on the swing here instead of Krishna and Radha, who is believed to be another form of Krishna.

Rabindranath Tagore, the Noble laureate from India, revived Holi as the Spring festival by introducing ‘Vasanta Utsav’ in his Shantiniketan or Bishwabharati University, which is celebrated in a very special way. Students and youths dress up in bright colorful dresses such as yellow and stage a number of cultural programs involving group choreography, songs and dance followed by playing Holi with ‘Abeer’ (coloured powder). Today, Vasanta Utsav has become an important part of the Bengali culture.

North East:

Holi is a six-day long in Manipur and commences on the full moon day of Phalguna. In the 18th century, it merged with the traditional and centuries-old Yaosang festival of Manipur. In earlier times, there were folk songs and dance performances under the moonlight accompanied by the indigenous drums. Today, modern musical instruments have replaced the drums and fluorescent lamps have replaced the moonlight. Days before, people collect money from the community for the expenses on the festivities. A thatched hut of hay, twigs and sticks is built, only to be set ablaze. Next morning, groups of boys go to play ‘gulal’ with the girls and pay them money to get the favor. Devotees play ‘gulal’, sing devotional songs and dance in front of the Krishna temple dressed in the traditional white and yellow turban. On the last day of the festival, a grand procession is taken out to the main Krishna temple in the capital of Manipur, Imphal where multitude of cultural programs take place.

HOLI LEGENDS & HISTORY

Holi is one of the oldest Hindu festivals. Its reference can be found in religious scriptures and sculptures on walls of old temples. There are paintings, which show royal couple sitting on grand swing and maidens playing music and spraying colors on them. Whatever the scene and the theme, colors and mythology have always been an important part of these Holi depictions. However the most important myths and stories that have been associated with Holi are given below:

Story of Radha and Krishna:

Lord Krishna was dark while his spiritual love-mate Radha had fair-complexion. So child Krishna often used to complain about the injustice of nature towards him to his mother Yashoda and would ask her the reason. One day, Yashoda suggested Krishna to apply color on Radha’s face and change her complexion in any color he desired. The naughty Krisha immediately set off to his mission and one can often see paintings and murals depicting Krishna throwing colors on Radha and other ‘gopis’. This lovable prank of throwing coloured powder and water jets called ‘pichkaris’ soon gained favor with the people and it evolved into the tradition of Holi. This is the reason that people often carry images of Krishna and Radha through the streets. The Holi of Mathura region, where Krishna was born, has a special fervor.

Story of Dhundhi:

It was there was an ogress called Dhundi who used to scare and trouble children in the kingdom of Prithu. She has many boons, which made her almost invincible but due to a curse from Lord Shiva, she was susceptible to the shouts, abuses and pranks of village boys. It is believed that on Holi day, these children united and made combined efforts to chase away Dhundi by shouting at her, abusing her and playing pranks on her and finally succeeded in their mission. This is the reason that young boys are allowed to use rude words on this day without anybody taking offence.

Story of Holika and Prahlad:

There was a demon-king named Hiranyakashipu who won over the kingdom of earth and ordered everybody to worship him and not the God. However, his little son Prahlad refused to do so and continued to worship the almighty Lord Vishnu, the Hindu God. He tried many times to kill him but Lord Vishnu saved him every time. One of the sisters of the king named Holika had powers to walk through fire unharmed. Thus he ordered her to kill Prahlad by walking through the fire with him. However, Lord Vishnu came to his help and Prahlad was saved while Holika perished. Somehow, she didn’t knew that her powers were only effective if she entered the fire alone. Even today, bonfires are lit on the night of Holi in memory of the event and burning of the wicked aunt Holika.

Story of Kamadeva:

After the death of his consort Sati, Lord Shiva was so shocked and hurt that he went into a deep meditation and stopped looking after his worldly responsibilities. This led to many complications in the world’s affairs. Thus, gods conspired to bring him out of his trance with the help of Goddess Parvati, who wished to marry the great lord and Kamadeva, the God of love, passion and lust. Though, mindful of the consequences, Kamadeva undertook the task for the world’s good and shot one of his love arrows on the great Lord who had mastered all the worldly temptations. As Shiva’s eyes opened, he was furious by the trick of Kamdeva and directed the wrath of his third eye on him and burned him on the spot. However, later he did give him an immortal life. It is believed that Lord Shiva burned Kamadeva on the day of Holi and thus, many people worship him for his sacrifice and offer him a mango blossoms that he loved and sandalwood paste to cool off the pain of his fatal burns.

Ashok Harlalka

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