Holi ( Indian Festival)
Holi is an Indian festival, which is full of colours and popular worldwide. It is one of the most important festivals in North India, but celebrated everywhere. It comes in the starting of the year in month of March and celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm by followers of the Hindu religion and others as well. This is the most awaited festival in India because everyone eagerly wants to play with colours and water and have India sweet dishes. The festival is about celebrating happiness and joy with neighbours, friends and family. People forget their disputes and hug each other on this festival to celebrate brotherhood. In other words, everyone tries to forgive enmities. It is very amazingly famous in Mathura and Rajasthan. If you want to explore real India then try to travel on nearby dates of this festival.
Legend of Holi
According to the Indian mythology Hindu religion and its followers believe that there was a devil king Hiranya Kashyap. He was very cruel and had a son named Prahlad and a sister called Holika. On the opposite side son was very nice and calm and believing in God. It is believed that the king had some blessings of Lord Brahma and because of that no man, animal or weapon could kill him. He thought that was immortal. This blessing of God became a curse for him as he became very arrogant. Later he ordered everyone to worship him instead of God. So, because of that all scared and started praying him, but his own son was against it and following Lord Vishnu.
Upon his disobedience, the king planned with his sister to kill Prahlad with fire because his sister received special blessing from God that she cannot be burnt in fire so, king made her sister to sit in the fire with his son on the lap. But God wanted something else, it went wrong, Holika got burned and Prahlad came out safe because of Lord Vishnu. This shows that Lord Vishnu protected him because of his devotion. So, from that day people started celebrating this festival as the victory of good over evil.
Celebration
People celebrate this day with utmost enthusiasm and fervour, especially in North India. Actually, this festival is celebrated for 2 days, one day before Holi, people conduct a ritual named as ‘Holika Dahan’. On this day, people pile heaps of wood and other stuff in public gathering area to burn it. It shows the burning of evil and revising the story of Holika and King Hiranya Kashyap. Moreover, they gather around the Fire to take 7 rounds of it and to seek the blessings and offer their devotion to God.
The next day (on the day of festival) is probably the most colourful day in North India. Everyone gets up in the morning and perform pray to God. Later, they dress up with white clothes and play with colours till late night. There are many people who drink alcohol while playing this festival. Similarly, they rub colour on each other’s faces and immerse themselves in water.
Evening of this festival
In the evening, everyone bathes and dress up nicely to visit their family members and friends. They dance and drink called the ‘bhang’. On this occasion in every home, they make some fried dishes. People of all ages enjoy Holi’s special delicacy ‘GUJIYA’ (Indian sweet). In short, Holi spreads love and brotherhood and teach us that we need to be united. It brings harmony and happiness not only to our country but to the whole world as well.
