Holi , The festival of colours is a popular Hindu spring festival celebrated all over India in the later part of  February or early March every year. According to the Hindu Calender, it falls on the Phalgun Purnima(full moon). Originally, Holi was an agricultural festival celebrating the arrival of spring as all the trees have sprouted tender leaves and blooming flowers. With the harvest having been completed and the winter also just ended, it is pre-eminently a festival of delight and cheerfulness. Gulal (colored powder) is sprinkled on each other by elders and children, men and women, rich and poor alike. All superficial social barriers are pulled down by the all-round gaiety and laughter. Holi is associated with a number of names in different states of India. Different names for Holi are-

Lathmaar Holi in Barsana – Women have sticks in their hands and the men need to save themselves from the immensely spirited womenfolk

Dulandi Holi in Haryana - The Married women on Holi beat their brother-in -laws for all the pranks they played on them for the entire year. Women roll up their saris in the form of a rope in a mock rage, and give a good run to their brother-in-laws. In the evening, men are supposed to bring sweets for their brother’s wife.

Rangpanchmi or Shimgo in Maharashtra -
The festival is particularly popular amongst fisher folk. They celebrate the festival by singing, dancing and merry-making. People also utter sound through their mouths in a peculiar fashion by striking their mouths with the back of their hands.

Basant Utsav or Vasantotsav in West Bengal
The Vasantotsav meaning Spring Festival was initiated by poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore at his University Shantiniketan. On this festival, people merrily welcome spring not just with colours but with songs, dance and chanting of hymns. People merrily welcome spring not just with colours but with songs, dance, chanting of hymns.

Dol Purnima in West Bengal
The festival is also known as 'Dol Jatra', 'Dol Purnima' or the 'Swing Festival' in West Bengal. The festival is celebrated by placing the idols of Krishna and Radha on an attractively decorated palanquin which is then taken round the main streets of the city. The devotees take turns to swing them while women dance around the swing and sing devotional songs. Men keep spraying colored water and color powder known as 'abeer' at everyone.

Hola Mohalla in Punjab
Hola Mohalla is an annual fair celebrated on holi, which was initiated by Guru Gobind Singh; the tenth Sikh guru with a purpose to physically strengthen the Sikh community by holding military exercises and mock battles. This fair is organized in a large scale at Anandpur Sahib in Punjab.

The festival is celebrated for three consecutive days, in which Sikh community members display their physical strength by performing daring acts like bareback horse-riding, standing erect on two speeding horses, Gatka (mock encounters), tent pegging etc, and which is followed by music and poetry competition.

Kaman Pandigai or Kamavilas or Kama-Dahanam in Tamil Nadu
People worship Kamadeva on the occasion of Holi in Tamil Nadu. The villagers separate themselves into two parties as Erintha katchi and Eriyatha katchi and a heated debate follows. Songs are sung on holi and people present sandalwood to Kaamadeva.

Phagu Purnima in Nepal
Phagu means the sacred red powder and Purnima is the full moon day. People wander through the streets either on foot or on some vehicle, with a variety of colours smeared over them.

Phagwah in North America
Phagwah is a bhojpuri name for holi. It is the Indo-Caribbean Hindu celebration of the New Year. The Phagwah Parade in Richmond Hill is the major celebration in North America. People Color one another on this day and holi is a time for fun in North America when one forgets the worldly anxieties and enjoys the finer things in life.

Dolyatra in West Bengal
This is celebrated with great enthusiasm as it is the last festival of the Bengali Year. It is believed that Lord Krishna expressed his love to her beloved Radha on this day of Dolyatra. People first worship Radha and Krishna by offering bhajans and special pujas and later play with colors.

History of Holi
Hiranyakashipu, the king of demons, had been granted a boon by God Brahma, which made it almost impossible for him to be killed. According to the boon, he can not be killed "during day or night; inside the home or outside, not on earth or on sky; neither by a man nor an animal; neither by astra nor by shastra". Thus, he turned arrogant, and attacked the Heavens and the Earth. Hiranyakashyap wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship only him but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. Hiaranyakashyap ordered his sister, Holika to enter a burning fire with Prahlad in her lap as she had a boon whereby she could enter fire without any damage by virtue of a shawl which would prevent fire affecting the person wearing it. However, she wasn’t aware that the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone. As a result she paid a price for her evil desires, while Prahlad was saved by the grace of the god for his extreme devotion. The festival thus celebrates the victory of good over evil. The Burning of Holika is celebrated as “Holi”

Ways of Celebration

DAY ONE: Commemoration of Holika

After sunset, a day before holi, huge bonfires are sparked with logs of wood, basketful of cow dung cakes, ghee and honey. People walk and dance around the bonfire to pray to the God of Fire. Special sweets prepared from jaggery and wheat flour is offered. Once the flames slow down, water is sprinkled on embers and ashes. To expel negative vibes, these ashes are applied on the foreheads of the devotees and then preserved in the house for the whole remaining year.

DAY TWO: Playing With Colors

On this day, men and women wear white 'kurta pyjama' and 'salwar kameez' to play Holi to give wonderful color combinations. There are deafening sounds of 'Dholaks' and songs everywhere. Huge drums are filled with colored water. Children fill water balloons and thrown against each other. Water is splashed on one another with the help of pichkaris. Atmosphere is filled with colors as people throw abeer and gulal in the air showing great joy and mirth in the arrival of this Spring Festival.

Holi in Mathura-Vrindavana

People from allover India gather at Mathura-Vrindavan every year to enjoy the spirit of Holi in the land of Krishna. People believe in the legends of Holi associated with Radha and Krishna. In Vrindavan and Mathura, this festival is celebrated for 16 days. Lord Krishna is believed to have popularized the festival by playing pranks on the gopis here. The major places where holi is celebrated on a large scale in Mathura and Vrindavana are- Bakai-Bihari Temple at Vrindavan where people soaked in the colours of Holi are found totally immersed in the spirit of devotion. Gulal-Kund in Braj where local boys, acting in the Krishna-Lila drama troupes re-enact the scenes of Holi for the pilgrims.

Varsana In the afternoon men from Nandagram come to Varsana and play Holi with the women of Varsana. The women hit the men hard with long bamboo sticks. The men have shields with which they protect themselves.

Nandagram The day after the Holi festival at Varsana, Holi is celebrated in Nandagram. The men from Varsana come to Nandagram to play Holi with the women there. The flag of the Larily Lal Temple in Varsana is carried in an elaborate procession to Nandagram. At this time the residents of Nandagram try to capture the flag, but their attempts are foiled. After this, women play Holi with bamboo sticks.

Article Contributed by Swati Sharma