Holi is an ancient Hindu festival known by different names like Festival of Colours or Festival of Spring. Holi is celebrated on the Full Moon Day or Purnima of the Hindu Lunisolar month of Phalgun. Holi is celebrated as the end of the winter season and the beginning of beautiful spring along with celebrating the Harvest Season in the Northern parts of India. Holi is the festival of colours, love and togetherness. People celebrate this festival by applying colours on each other, singing and dancing. One of the most vibrant festivals, It is the favourite festival of the young and the children. In this Blog we will know about the Significance and stories of Holi.
Significance of Holi
The festival of Holi has great significances. Its significances are religious, historical, social, cultural and biological. There are many important reasons for celebrating this festival. Religiously, this festival marks the victory of good over evil and the victory of devotion over the sinister or devilish desires as is shown in the story of Prahlad and Holika. The festival finds a detailed description in early religious works such as Jaimini's Purva mimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grihya-Sutras. Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by the Aryans too and dates back to several centuries before Christ.
This festival is considered to be the festival of love as it was a tradition between Krishna and Radha to smear each other with love in colours. Krishna used to show his love to Radha by playing pranks on her and one of them was to applying colours on her face, which she took as the mark of his love and used to play with him with colours. Even today lovers show their affection for each other by playing with colours on Holi. Socially it is the festivity of togetherness and bonding. People gather in an open place one night before Holi to burn Holika. They wish good to each other and pray for the wellness of society and goodwill in their families.
From a biological point of view, this festival is a symbol of encouragement by applying colors on each other, which brings freshness and agility to the body which is feeling lethargic and sluggish due to changing weather. People tend to stay sleepy, but when colour is applied, music is played and dance is performed, bodies get active and people start getting active in their day to day life.
Stories of Holi
There are different stories associated with Holi, but the main is the legend of Holika and Prahalad. Prahalad was the son of the Demon King Hiranyakashipu. Prahalad was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, while Hiranyakashipu was his enemy. He tried to stop his son from worshipping Vishnu, but could not succeed. He decided to kill his son, so he asked his sister Holika to enter the fire with Prahalad. Holika had a boon that fire would not burn her. She entered the pyre of fire with Prahalad in her lap. With the grace of Lord Vishnu, Prahalad was unscathed by the fire, but Holika was burnt due to her sinister desire. People celebrate this day every year to commemorate the victory of good over bad by burning Holika every year.
One historical reason for celebrating Holi is that on this day the demoness Putna was killed. She tried to kill child Krishna by feeding him poisonous milk, but Krishna killed her on this day. She used to kill kids by feeding them poisonous milk. People were very happy to see her dead, so they started burning her pyre on this day every year to celebrate her death.
People in South India dedicate Holi to Lord Shiva and Kamadeva the Lord of passion and love. On this day Kamadeva hit Shiva with his arrow of Passion to wake him up from his deep meditative state. When Lord Shiva woke up, he was extremely angry and burnt Kamadeva with his third eye. People remember the sacrifice of Kamadeva for the welfare of the world.
Celebration of Holi
People celebrate Holi mainly with colours. They smear Gulal on each other's faces and wish Happy Holi to each other. On the night before Holi, people burn Holika. They gather in an open space and collect firewood. They burn the fire to remember how Holika was burnt by the Lord Vishnu to save his devotee, Prahalad. This is called Holika Dahan. They do the Parikrama of the fire and pray to Lord Vishnu to save them from evils forces. People prepare Gujiya, Matthi, Mal Puye, etc for Holi.
The celebrations of Holi start a few days ago. People gather wood and other combustible material for Holika Dahan. People sing and dance along the burning Holika to celebrate the victory of Good over Evil. Next day they play with colours and wish each other.
In the year 2025, Holi will be celebrated on the 14th March.
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