Holi

Holi ( ) is a major Hindu festival of colours, love and spring. It celebrates the love between the deities Radha and Krishna. Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated in ancient Indian subcontinent and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world. Holi also celebrates the arrival of spring in India and Nepal, the end of winter, and the blossoming of love. It is also an invocation for a good spring harvest season. It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (full moon day) falling on the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna, which falls around the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar.

Holi ( ) is a major Hindu festival of colours, love and spring. It celebrates the love between the deities Radha and Krishna. Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated in ancient Indian subcontinent and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world. Holi also celebrates the arrival of spring in India and Nepal, the end of winter, and the blossoming of love. It is also an invocation for a good spring harvest season. It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (full moon day) falling on the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna, which falls around the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar. ==About the festival== Holi is a sacred ancient tradition of Hindus. It is a cultural celebration that gives Hindus and non-Hindus alike an opportunity to have fun and play with other people by throwing coloured water and powder at each other. It is also observed broadly on the Indian subcontinent. Holi is celebrated at the end of winter, on the last full moon day of the Hindu luni-solar calendar month, marking the spring, making the date vary with the lunar cycle. The date falls typically in March, but sometimes in late February of the Gregorian calendar. The festival has many purposes; most prominently, it celebrates the beginning of spring. In 17th century literature, it was identified as a festival that celebrated agriculture, commemorated good spring harvests, and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time to begin enjoying spring's abundant colours and say farewell to winter. To many Hindus, Holi festivities mark an occasion to reset and renew ruptured relationships, end conflicts, and rid themselves of accumulated emotional impurities from the past. It also has a religious purpose, symbolically signified by the legend of Holika. The night before Holi, bonfires are lit in a ceremony known as Holika Dahan (burning of Holika), or Little Holi. People gather near the fires, sing, and dance. The next day, Holi, also known as Dhuli in Sanskrit, or Dhulheti, Dhulandi, or Dhulendi, is celebrated. ==History== The Holi festival is an ancient Hindu festival with its own cultural rituals, which emerged before the Gupta period. The festival of colours finds mentioned in numerous scriptures, such as in works like Jaimini's Purva Mimamsa Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras, with even more detailed descriptions in ancient texts like the Narada Purana and Bhavishya Purana. The festival of "holikotsav" was also mentioned in the 7th-century work, Ratnavali, by King Harsha. It is mentioned in the Puranas, Dasakumara Charita by Daṇḍin, and by the poet Kālidāsa during the 4th-century reign of Chandragupta II. The celebration of Holi is also mentioned in the 7th-century Sanskrit drama Ratnavali. The festival of Holi caught the fascination of European traders and British colonial staff by the 17th century. Various old editions of the Oxford English Dictionary mention it, but with varying, phonetically derived spellings: Houly (1687), Hooly (1698), Huli (1789), Hohlee (1809), Hoolee (1825), and Holi in editions published after 1910¹. ==Influence== , Rajasthan, 2010 The Holi festival has a cultural significance among various Hindu traditions of the Indian subcontinent. It is the festive day to end and rid oneself of past errors, to end conflicts by meeting others, a day to forget and forgive. People pay or forgive debts, as well as deal anew with those in their lives. Holi also marks the start of spring, an occasion for people to enjoy the changing seasons and make new friends. Holi is of particular significance in the Braj region, which includes locations traditionally associated with Radha Krishna: Mathura, Vrindavan, Nandgaon, Barsana, and Gokula. These places are popular tourist attractions during Holi. Outside India, Holi is observed by Hindus in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan as well as in countries with large diaspora populations from India around the world. The Holi rituals and customs can vary with local adaptations. ===Celebration of Holi in other Indian religions=== Sikhs have traditionally celebrated the festival, at least through the 19th century, with its historic texts referring to it as Hola. Guru Gobind Singh – the last human guru of the Sikhs – modified Holi with a three-day Hola Mohalla extension festival of martial arts. The extension started the day after the Holi festival in Anandpur Sahib, where Sikh soldiers would train in mock battles, compete in horsemanship, athletics, archery and military exercises. Holi was observed by Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his Sikh Empire that extended across what are now northern parts of India and Pakistan. According to a report by Tribune India, Sikh court records state that 300 mounds of colours were used in 1837 by Ranjit Singh and his officials in Lahore. Ranjit Singh would celebrate Holi with others in the Bilawal gardens, where decorative tents were set up. In 1837, Sir Henry Fane who was the commander-in-chief of the British Indian army joined the Holi celebrations organised by Ranjit Singh. A mural in the Lahore Fort was sponsored by Ranjit Singh and it showed the Hindu god Krishna playing Holi with gopis. After the death of Ranjit Singh, his Sikh sons and others continued to play Holi every year with colours and lavish festivities. The colonial British officials joined these celebrations. The festival has also traditionally been observed by Jains and Newars (Nepal). ===Celebration of Holi in India during the Mughal rule=== n emperor Jahangir celebrating Holi with ladies of the zenana In Mughal India, Holi was at times suppressed, and at others celebrated with such exuberance that Hindu citizens of all castes could throw colour on the Muslim Mughal Emperor. According to Sharma (2017), "there are several paintings of Mughal emperors celebrating Holi". Grand celebrations of Holi were held at the Lal Qila, where the festival was also known as Eid-e-gulaabi or Aab-e-Pashi. Mehfils were held throughout the walled city of Delhi with aristocrats and traders alike participating. This changed during the rule of Emperor Aurangzeb. He banned the public celebration of Holi using a Farman issue in November 1665. The celebration was later restarted again after the death of Emperor Aurangzeb. Bahadur Shah Zafar himself wrote a song for the festival, while poets such as Amir Khusrau, Ibrahim Raskhan, Nazeer Akbarabadi and Mehjoor Lakhnavi relished it in their writings. File:Samaj gathering during Lathmar hoil.jpg|Colour drenched devotees in Radha Krishna Temple, Mathura, India File:Lath Mar Holi at Braj.jpg|In the Braj region of North India, women have the option to playfully hit men who save themselves with shields; for the day, men are culturally expected to accept whatever women dish out to them. This ritual is called Lath Mar Holi. File:A play of colors then a dance at Holi India.jpg|A play of colours then a dance at a Hindu temple near Mathura, at Holi Barsana, a town near Mathura in the Braj region of Uttar Pradesh, celebrates Lathmar Holi in the sprawling compound of the Radha Rani Temple. Thousands gather to witness the Lath Mar Holi when women beat up men with sticks as those on the sidelines become hysterical, sing Holi songs and shout "Radhe Radhe" or "Sri Radhe Krishna". The Holi songs of Braj Mandal are sung in pure Braj, the local language. Holi celebrated at Barsana is unique in the sense that here women chase men away with sticks. Males also sing provocative songs in a bid to invite the attention of women. Women then go on the offensive and use long staves called lathis to beat the men, who protect themselves with shields. Mathura, in the Braj region, is the birthplace of Krishna. In Vrindavan this day is celebrated with special puja and the traditional custom of worshipping Radha Krishna; here the festival lasts for sixteen days. All over the Braj region and neighbouring places like Hathras, Aligarh, and Agra, Holi is celebrated in more or less the same way as in Mathura, Vrindavan and Barsana. A traditional celebration includes Matki Phod, similar to Dahi Handi in Maharashtra and Gujarat during Krishna Janmashtami, both in the memory of god Krishna who is also called makhan chor (literally, butter thief). This is a historic tradition of the Braj region as well as the western region of India. An earthen pot filled with butter or other milk products is hung high by a rope. Groups of boys and men climb on each other's shoulders to form pyramids to reach and break it, while girls and women sing songs and throw coloured water on the pyramid to distract them and make their job harder. This ritual sport continues in Hindu diaspora communities. ==Influence on other cultures== in Utah County, Utah Holi is celebrated as a social event in parts of the United States. For example, at Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, NYC Holi Hai in Manhattan, New York, and Festival of Colors: Holi NYC in New York City, New York. ===Holi-inspired events=== A number of Holi-inspired social events have also surfaced, particularly in Europe and the United States, often organised by companies as for-profit or charity events with paid admission, and with varying scheduling that does not coincide with the actual Holi festival. These have included Holi-inspired music festivals such as the Festival Of Colours Tour and Holi One (which feature timed throws of Holi powder), and 5K run franchises such as The Color Run, Holi Run and Color Me Rad, in which participants are doused with the powder at per-kilometre checkpoints. The BiH Color Festival is a Holi-inspired electronic music festival held annually in Brčko, Bosnia and Herzegovina. ===Environmental impact=== The use of heavy metal-based pigments during Holi is also reported to cause temporary wastewater pollution, with the water systems recovering to pre-festival levels within 5 days. ==See also== Diwali Lathmar Holi , famous for ritualised public water fights Thingyan - Myanmar New Year Water Festival in mid-April ==Notes== ==References== ==External links==

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