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Holi Date: 8th March 2023, Wednesday
India is a land of traditions and culture, and festivals add more light and love to it. The festival that brings everyone together and the festival that paints everyone . Holi is the color of love, colors and foods. When we all are running in the mad rat race of our lives, these festivals are the most beautiful escape for us. People celebrate this festival of color with enthusiasm and excitement.
Holi is the opportunity to forget all resentments and harsh feelings for anyone and get united again. It marks the fact that togetherness can break the boundaries of caster, culture, race, and religion. Holi brings colors of joy and happiness. The people of India celebrate this festival by saying goodbye to the winters and welcoming spring. It teaches us to bring unity and integrity to our society. The festivals in India energize every single person celebrating them.
Holi Story In India
The most beautiful part of every festival that is celebrated in India is the mythological story behind it. Since childhood people hear these stories and pass to the next generation. Each generation hears it with the same fascination and affection. The beauty of these stories is that it connects everyone hearing them. In the context of celebrating Holi.
Holi Festival symbolizes that in the end victory will be of truth and purity over evil intentions. Hiranyakashipu, an egoist and self-obsessed king considered himself to be the most eminent personality in the world. This was because he received a boon from Lord Brahma that no animal, lord, goddess, devils, or human can not kill him, also that he can’t die either day or night, neither on the ground nor in the air. When he found that his son is a devotee of Vishnu, he planned to kill him.
He made Prahlad sit in fire along with Holika who was sister of Hiranyakashipu .She had a cloth that can be used as a protector that would protect her from fire but a miracle happen and that cloth went to Prahlad and he was saved. Holika got killed by his own brother and this is why a day before Hoi in the evening a big bonfire is set and it is called “Holika Dehan”.
Holi Celebration in India
Holi celebration is a whole vibe in India. In different places in India, it is celebrated every year. A beautiful evening of Poornima marks the beginning of the Holi festival. It is initiated by lighting up the bonfire a day before the day of Holi and the people take turns around it and pray that all the devils inside them in their surroundings should be burnt as well.
The next day is a day of fun with family and friends. For the Holi celebration, people come together put colors on each other’s faces, dance, and laugh their hearts out. Places like Mathura and Vrindavan are famous for the most beautiful Holi celebration. In certain parts of the nation, it is celebrated as Lathmar Holi, where Gops(Men) come to play Holi with Gopis(women) and the Gopis reciprocate by beating men with sticks as a way to defend themselves. In Odisha, Holi is celebrated as Falgun Dashmi and the devotees take out a Yatra, and sweets(Bhog) and colors (Abeer) are offered to the god. Basant Utsav, Phagunwa, Shigmo, Yoasang, and Rang Panchami are some of the several other names for the festival Holi.
The delicious food for cravings on Holi
Along with the colors and enthusiasm, another fascinating fact about Holi is the food items that are made with love in every house in the country. Gujjia is a must-need dessert on Holi. The crispy cover and sweet stuffing of this sweet bring a smile to everyone’s face. Thandai is what everyone looks for while dancing to the beats in the Holi celebration. Dahi Bhalla is the perfect combination of spice and sour flavors, and Malpua fills sweetness in the festival. For snacks, Bhang Pakora, coconut milk murukkus, and Phirni is made and shared.
The Modern Outlook of Holi Festival
To celebrate Holi everyone dresses up in the best white attire to let the colors of the Holi celebration spark and shine on them. Recently, the chikankari kurti has gained a rise in demand for festivals. The Holi date usually lies in the month of March. The Holi is saved by all not only to celebrate the festival but also to put beautiful stories, snaps, and posts on their social media platforms. Recently to save water on this festival people have adopted playing Holi with flowers. This is a harmless way of celebrating the festival along with saving water. Also, instead of outdoor parties, warm parties with relatives with good food and music have become the new normal in the nation. But the craze of pool parties and outdoor holi parties is still the same.
In the streets, there is another level of energy because Holi celebrations are often marked by the portrayal of traditional music, dance, and even martial arts in Punjab. Once everyone is done playing with colors they when wearing clean and beautiful clothes, meet friends, teachers, and relatives, and make new beautiful memories forgetting and forgiving the old unfruitful feelings and memories.