Holi - An Indian Festival of Colors and Joy

What is Holi? and Why is it celebrated with colors?

Holi is one of the major Hindu festivals in India, which is celebrated when the Sun enters the sign of Pisces late in February. Usually, the place where the Holi mound is to be set on fire is decided forty days before on Vasant Panchami, by erecting a poll there. It is reminiscent of the Maypole of Europe (pole painted and decorated with flowers for dancing around on May day in Europe). The ceremonies include the lighting of bonfires during which all evils are symbolically burnt. Women worship Holi in the afternoon. 

Holi fire consists of dried cow dung and a lot of wood. It is set on fire amidst the beating of drums and the singing of songs in praise of Bhagat Prahlad. A burning stick is taken out and immersed in a nearby tank as a symbol of Prahlad being saved. Women keep fast on this day for the welfare of Bhagat Prahlad and collect some ash from the Holi fire to be used in the next day Gangur worship.

People's Thoughts about Holi Festival

Some believe that Holi is a spring festival dedicated to Lord Krishna and the Gopis. It took the place of an earlier primitive fertility ritual, combining games, comic operas, suggestive songs, the throwing of colored water, and jumping over the bonfire, the ashes of which believed to possess magical powers. Some people believe that Holi is celebrated to commemorate Lord Krishna's victory over the Putana. 

A female demon, daughter of Bali, She attempted to kill infant Krishna by suckling him but was herself sucked to death by the child. According to some Hindus, the Holi carnival commemorates the frolics of the youthful Krishna. The festival also celebrates the death of demoness Putana, or the burning of demoness Holika sister of Hiranyakashipu, or the destruction of Kam by Shiva. Kam (god of love) inspired Shiva with amorous thoughts of Parvati while he was engaged in penitential devotion, and for his offense, the god reduced him to ashes by fire from his central eye. 

Shiva afterward relented him to be born again as Pradyumna (son of Krishna and Rukmani). In South India, the festival ends with a midnight bonfire, in which an image of the god Kam is burned. It is not observed very much in Andhra Pradesh, though in other parts it is said to be very popular.

How do people celebrate the festival of Holi?

During the Holi festival, people sprinkle each other with colored water or even throw powder on each other or rub each other's faces with red powder. In the evening people take bath and enjoy eating and distributing sweets in the neighborhood.

When and how Holi Festival Started Celebrating - Story Behind Holi

The following is the usual story told in the evening on the 'Holi' day. Hiranyakashipu was a Daitya king who, according to Mahabharata and the Puranas, obtained from Shiva the sovereignty of three worlds for a million years, and ordered his subject that they worship him as a God. 

Prahlad only worshipped Vishnu as the true God and told people that a human cannot be a god. Prahlad was a pious son of a wicked father, Hiranyakashipu, the sworn enemy of Vishnu. When Prahlad insisted on worshipping Vishnu, his father ordered his death but no weapon could harm him, since Vishnu protected him.

Hiranyakashipu asked his sister Holika to kill Prahalad. She had a boon that fire can do no harm to her. She took Prahalad in her lap and sat in a big bonfire. Holika got burnt and no harm came to Prahalad. Hiranyakashipu felt sad about his sister's death and since then people burn Holi and pray to God to protect his devotees as he protected Prahalad. Hiranyakashipu tried but could not kill his son Prahalad, but eventually, he was slain by Vishnu in the Nara-Sinha (manlion) incarnation