History of Holi

Holi is a festival of colours and happiness. It is an Hindu Festival.It is celebrated in India on the last full moon of the lunar month of phagun. There are different stories behind it. In many traditions in Hinduism Holi celebrates the death of Holika. It is also associated with Lord krishna. It is public holiday in India. The first day of Holi is known as choti holi and second day is known as rang vali holi. In my city and other few cities , peoeple are celebrating Holi today ( 23/3/2016) and in rest of cities it will be celebrated tomorrow. My Nephew and Niece played holi with kids in street. On this occassion people usually wear white clothes and threw dry colours on each other.  Holi starts with day before holi with holika bonfire. People sings and dance around bonfire. And celebrate it as victory of good over evil. Next day they play colourful holi. They use dry colours and coloured water. They also carry water guns and balloons filled with water. This festival also declares the arrival of spring.

Holika story

The word holi originates from Holika. She was a sister of a demon king Hiryankashyap. He considered himself a God and demanded to worship him. He had earned a boon of supreme powers. His son Parhlad was a devotee of Lord Vishnu. He refused to accept his father's order so his father planned to kill him. Holika was parhlad's evil aunt tricked him into sitting on pyre with her.She was wearing a cloak that made her immune from fire. But when the fire started the cloak flown from holika and it covered prahlad. Holika burned and prahlad survived. Next day people applied ash to their forehead . 

Lord Krishna Story

In Mathura and Vrindavan , where Hindu God Krishna born and grew up , this festival is celebrated 16 days.It is related with the divine love of Radha and krishna.Krishna had dark blue skin colour. His mother told him to colour Radha's face in any colour . Thus they became a couple. From then Radha's coloured face has been celebrated as holi. 

Lathmaar Holi of Barsana and Nandgaon

Lathmaar holi means hitting with sticks. The stick is in the hands of the women on this day and the men need to work a lot to save themselves from the immensely charged up womenfolk. 

  

People eat special things like gujhiya, halwa, dahi bade and they also drink bhaang. Bhaang is made from Cannabis leafs. It is a sweet drink. 

So , In short Holi is a festival of happiness and joy. People celebrate it in a different way but they are bound together with a common thread of a joy. You can also call this festival 'India's Tomatina .'  Here i am wishing all of you a very happy holi with a colour in my hand. May your life be filled with all the happy colours.