Why celebrate Holi festival

 

Why celebrate Holi festival? 

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Why celebrate Holi festival

The festival of Holi, popularly known as 'festival of colors', is celebrated on the full moon day in the month of Phalgun.  Color and water are thrown at each other between fast music and drums.  Holi, like other festivals in India, symbolizes the victory of good over evil.  According to ancient mythology, the story of Hiranyakashyap, the festival of Holi, is connected.

History of holi

Hiranyakashipu was a king of ancient India who was like a demon.  He wanted to avenge the death of his younger brother who was killed by Lord Vishnu.  So he prayed for years to make himself powerful.  Eventually he got a boon.  But with this Hiranyakashyap started thinking of himself as God and asked people to worship themselves like God.  This evil king had a son named Prahlada and was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu.  Prahlada never obeyed his father and continued to worship Lord Vishnu.  Angered by the son not performing his puja, the king decided to kill his son.  He told his sister Holika to take Prahlada in his lap and sit in the fire because Holika could not burn in the fire.  His plan was to burn Prahlada, but his plan could not succeed because Prahlada continued to take the name of Lord Vishnu all the time and survived but Holika was burnt to ashes.  This defeat of Holika symbolizes the destruction of evil.  After this, Lord Vishnu killed Hiranyakashipu, so the festival of Holi is associated with the story of Holika's death.  Due to this, Holi is lit in some states of India a day before Holi as a symbol of the end of evil.

But how did colors become part of Holi?

This story goes back to the time of Lord Krishna, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.  It is believed that Lord Krishna celebrated Holi with colors, so the festival of Holi became popular as colors.  He used to celebrate Holi with his comrades in Vrindavan and Gokul.  They used to make fun of devils all over the village.  Even today, a fun filled Holi like Vrindavan is not celebrated anywhere.
Holi is a spring festival and winters end on its arrival.  In some parts, this festival is also related to the spring harvest.  Farmers celebrate Holi in the joy of growing a good crop.  Holi is also known as 'Spring Festival' or 'Kama Mahotsav'.

Holi is an ancient festival

Holi is one of the ancient Hindu festivals and has been celebrated since many centuries before the birth of Jesus Christ.  Holi is also described in Jaimini's Poorimamsa Sutra and Kathak Grahaya Sutra.

Holi sculptures are also built on the walls of temples of ancient India.  One such 16th-century temple is in Hampi, the capital of Vijayanagar.  There are many scenes of Holi in this temple where the prince, princess and their slaves are coloring each other.

Many medieval paintings, such as 16th century Ahmednagar paintings, Mewar paintings, miniature paintings of Bundi, can be seen celebrating Holi in different ways.

Holi colors

Earlier Holi colors were made from the flowers of Tesu or Palash and were called Gulal.  Those colors were very good for the skin because they did not contain any chemicals.  But the definition of colors changed over time.  Today, people use harsh chemicals in the name of color.  Due to these bad colors, many people have given up playing Holi.  We should celebrate this old festival in its true form.

Holi celebrations

Holi is not a one-day festival.  In many states, it is celebrated for three days.

Day 1 - On a full moon day colors are decorated in a plate and the eldest member of the family sprinkles the colors on the rest of the members.

Day 2 - It is also called Poono.  On this day pictures of Holika are lit and Holi is lit in the memory of Holika and Prahlada.  Mothers take five rounds of the burning Holi with their children for the blessings of the god of fire.

Day 3 - This day is called 'Parva' and it is the last day of Holi festival.  On this day, color and water are poured over each other.  They are also worshiped by putting colors on the idols of Lord Krishna and Radha.