Gulaal, pichkaari, delectable sweets, lots of music and celebrations- Holi is one of the biggest festivals that we all look forward to. Whatever the age, be it kids or the adults, everyone looks forward to the Holi 2023 festivity-the festival of colours.
This festival gives us an opportunity to forget differences and fortify relationships.
The history of Holi Celebration finds its mention in various religious scriptures of Hindus such as Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras, Narad Purana and Bhavishyad Purana. Even it’s been accounted in King Harsha’s 7th-century work Ratnavali.
Holi Festival is celebrated on the last full moon day of the lunar month of (Phalguna). It is celebrated that time of the year where we welcome the colorful season of spring, fertility, harvest and bid goodbye to the winter blues. Historically speaking, this festival holds a lot of importance, it is mentioned in various folklores, songs and stories.
There is a Mythological significance attached to the festival. One of the legendary story connected to Holi is of Bhakt Prahlad and his Hiranyakshyap. The legend says there once lived a very powerful Daitya King, Hiranyakshyap who considered himself a god and wanted everybody to worship him. To his great ire, his son, Prahlad who from infancy was an ardent worshiper of Lord Vishnu. The Daitya King became very much enraged and tried his best to dissuade from Vishnu Worship and told him the he’s the only God to be worshipped. But it was to no purpose. The child declared, again and again, that the Omnipresent Vishnu, Lord of the universe, was the only Being to be worshipped — for even he, the king, held his throne only so long as it pleased Vishnu. The kings rage knew no bounds, get rid of his son, Hiranyakshyap ordered his son to be struck him with pointed weapons, to be trampled by elephant, thrown over a precipice, Poison, fire, starvation, throwing into a well, enchantments, and other measures were then tried on the child one after another, but to no purpose. Nothing could hurt him in whose heart dwelt Vishnu. Finally Hiranyakshyap called his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap, as she had a boon to enter fire unscathed. Legend has it that Prahlad was saved for his extreme devotion for the lord Vishnu while Holika paid a price for her sinister desire. The tradition of burning Holika or the ‘Holika dahan’ comes mainly from this legend.
Another significant story connected to the Celebration of Holi is that of Bal Gopal, Baby Lord Krishna. Determined to eliminate the one destined to kill him, Evil King Kansa decided to take help of the fearful demoness Putana who possessed magical powers. Kansa warned her that she should be careful while carrying out the task as the child was no ordinary mortal, but an incarnation of Lord Vishnu himself, and that he was not aware where is the baby so asked the demoness to kill all the infants in his kingdom. Putana transformed herself into a beautiful maiden, before setting out, she poisoned her breasts with the venom of the deadliest snake. On reaching Nandraj’s house, she saw Krishna lying in a cradle. In one glance she realized that the boy was no ordinary mortal but god himself. She introduced herself and requested Yashoda to allow her to feed Krishna. Just like the villagers, Yashoda also thought that the beautiful maiden was some goddess and agreed to Putana’s request. Putana lifted little Krishna in her arms, stepped into the backyard and started feeding her. She thought that within minutes Krishna would be lifeless. Instead, Putana suddenly started feeling as if the little boy was sucking the life out of her. She tried to get Krishna away from her but was unable to do so. She tried to scare Krishna by transforming herself to her real form but he would not let go of her and eventually sucked the life out of Putana. The lifeless body of Putana fell on the ground. All the villagers rejoiced and celebrated this victory.
Holika Dahan which is lit a day before Holi marks the beginning of the celebration. It resonates that come what may, evil cannot hold for a long time and good will always win over evil.
Beautiful Holi 2023 Message by Hansaji:
‘We move around the fire, and decide to burn away all the kleshas, anger, frustrations, ego and negatives. By this process we make ourselves pure, positive and joyful. Holi festival celebration has a spiritual message that is to remove all your ashuddhi’s (impurities), once that’s done gyaan (knowledge) comes from within making you a better person. You develop discriminative knowledge (Vivek khyati) which help you understand, analyse before acting or reacting to given situation becoming more conscious. Playing Holi under the influence of Bhang or Alcohol isn’t the real way of playing Holi. When one is unable to remove anger, jealousy, ego from within they search for external factors that will help them to become positive. You have to work hard on yourself to remove all such negativities, while playing Holi everyone is covered in colors we can’t even recognise our enemy then why to even hold on to such a negative emotion. Just let go of animosity. Stay happy, pure and spread the joy around.’
After the Holika Dahan, people welcome Dhulivandan or the rangowali holi celebration. Everyone including children and elders smears colours on each other and celebrate Holi. Liquid colours are splashed through pichkaris that make the event even more joyous. Every street, every home seems coloured in vibrant hues that further adds to the spirit of this festival!
While the entire celebration itself is based on a Hindu legend, the throwing of colored powder also originates from a separate story. Lord Krishna, who has blue skin (shyam rang), is in love with Radha. With Krishna very unhappy and upset with the difference in skin color, Krishna’s mother couldn’t see him so upset and she playfully suggested that he should smear colors on Radha and then she won’t have the fair complexion, this lead to the colourful celebration.
Hansaji very beautifully explains the significance of colors, ‘when we celebrate Holi with colors we are celebrating the diversities, varieties of the World, of our lives. If we look at the world there are numerous varieties of species, flora and fauna around you. In human beings also there are various different personalities, nature, skills, interests, varied emotions (good or bad),etc. The reality of life is that we must deal with a wide range of situations. It is journey to experience and learn from everything. With the Colors of Holi we acknowledge this truth, people are drenched in different colors without any discrimination. The Holi celebration is the celebration of our lives diversities, involving different elements of nature like fire and water. This Holi festival of colors remember the fact that the world is filled with variety of good, bad, beautiful, ugly etc. And the fact that we have to experience And accept all that comes out way. There’s nothing bad or ugly, we can find good in bad and beautiful in the ugly, all these are opposites which are required to progress in life and grow as a person. Just like how you enjoy playing with varied colors of Holi learn to enjoy the varieties that world has to offer you.’
Colors are beautiful they are all full of different energies. In fact colors can evoke emotions like:
Red : Power, Energy, Strength, Purity, fertility, love, Passion.
Yellow : sunshine, happiness, sacred, auspicious
Blue : Calmness, tranquillity, Serenity, honesty, loyalty
Green : Nature, Spring, Happiness, Harvest, healing
Pink : Youth, good health, playfulness, innocence
Orange : Sacred, Strength, Courage
Purple : Royal, Wealth, power, creativity
Colors impact our feelings and our mind. Colors are not just beautiful but are also very powerful in affecting our brain and mood. Just like the colors of Holi we need to accept that our life is filled with colors of love, hate, peace, anger, etc. making our lives colorful.
• How to remove color from face? Apply either coconut oil to the Face, Body and Hair before you go out to play with the colours.
• How to remove color from nails? You can apply transparent na il paint on your nails to safeguard them from getting color stained. You can also rub your nail with lemon to help remove color stains.
• How to remove color from Skin? Apply lemon juice with honey and apply it to remove color stains from the skin.
• How to remove color from hair? Apply curd and leave it for 45 minutes before shampoo. This will help remove the colours and reduce any damage.
• How to remove color from cloths? Make sure to soak your clothes in hot water right after playing and then wash them. The longer you wait the harder it will be to remove the stains.
Holi 2023 helps to bring the society together and strengthen the secular fabric of our country. For, the festival is celebrated by everyone as everybody like to be a part of such a colorful and joyous festival. After the Holi celebration, in the evening people visit friends and relatives and exchange gifts, sweets and greetings. This helps in revitalising relationships and strengthening emotional bonds between people.