Holi 2020: Festival Of Colors | Date, Celebration, Colors

The vast diversity of India has given birth to many cultures and these cultures in return has given Mother India multiple festivals with the uniqueness of its own. Twelve months has thirteen festivities where people from every corner of the country come together to celebrate the wonderment. Every festival has a special element that embarks the beginning and period of the festival and each element holds a deeper meaning. Like Diwali is the jubilee of lights, the light symbolizes the victory of darkness over light and Bihu embarks the harvest of crops. Similarly, Holi is the festival of colour which welcomes the beginning of spring in India. Holi is India’s most joyful occasion where people adhere in the vibrancy of bright colours by painting each other and savouring sweets of delight.

FESTIVAL OF COLOURS

That day when we are all attired in white buying colours of spirited shades and jump in the tunes of “Rang Barse” and “Balam Pichkari” makes us wonder where has this festival of bliss has originated from? By the course of time as centuries passed people started celebrating Holi for multiple reasons but the mythology tells us the oldest documented story. Ancient history is a witness to many modern festivals that we celebrate today and when discussed Holi narrative talks about the demoness Holika and her brother Bhanjan who was blindly tempted with the desire of gaining immorality so he sat and meditated for days to god. Though God and Goddess are very careful about granting immortality he was cunning enough to trick them by tweaking the boon. His exact words were he wanted to be killed by neither a human or an animal, not indoors or outdoors, neither was ashtray[projectile weapon] or shastra[handheld weapon], neither day or night and lastly not in water or air. Once this boon was granted by Lord Vishnu Bhanjan became powerful and his arrogance and inevitable nature made him punish anyone who didn’t worship him.

BHANJAN’S DEFEAT

But Bhanjan’s son, Prahald was equitable he despised his father’s activity and only worshipped Vishnu. An angry Bhanjan filled with wrath tried to kill Prahald with the help of his sister, demoness Holika. She wrapped herself with a cloak that will keep her unharmed and Prahald was put on her lap with fire lit everywhere to burn him but the cloak fell on Prahald and instead Holika burnt. The next myth follows with Narasimha who is an Avatar of Lord Vishnu, half Human and half Lion killed Bhanjan by making him sit on his lap. In this way all the boons granted by Vishnu became insignificant.

WHY IS IT CELEBRATED

Holi is celebrated as a symbol denoting Triumph of Good over Evil when the effigy of Holika made of straw is burnt to embark the victory. It is also celebrated as a sign of love where people forget their personal differences and adversities and blend in the amusement of festivities where even enemies come together to paint each other with colours. The best part of Holi is, in fact, the colours, as mentioned prior Holi is celebrated as a  welcome of spring and that is what the colour signifies, the different shades of flower that buds during spring. In earlier times Holi was celebrated with flowers rather than colours and they were mostly orange, red and yellow and these still embark as the primary colours of Holi. It is also a festival where people spread positivity with the vibrancy of the colours. The auspicious celebration of Holi lasts for one day and one night and this night is mostly the full moon or Purnima. This commences also as the event where women pray for the happiness and well being of their families.

THE JOY THAT HOLI BRINGS

Though it's just a one-day festival enthusiast waits for it throughout the year to engage in the celebration. In Holi, people take balloons and fill it with coloured water to throw it on each other, buy delicious mouth-watering sweets and savour it with exquisite liquid delight called Bhang which is a signature dish of Holi festival. Holi celebration also includes paying respect to the elders and God by painting their feet with colours. It can be concluded that Holi is that one festival which makes everyone happy and joyous in their heart and that one day they can forget about all their hardships and stress and just enjoy the occasion.