Holi Celebration in India 2020 – Festival of Colors

03 February 2020 BY Admin

India is famous for its festivals and one of the most colourful festivals of India is “Holi” also known as “Festival of colors”. The festival is celebrated to welcome the spring season and people celebrate it by throwing the color water and paint on each other. The festival is celebrated in the month of Phalgun on Full moon day in various parts of India. The festival signifies the victory of good over evil or “Victory of God over evil”. People laugh, dance, with each other and irrespective of their caste, creed and race. Day before Holi, Holika Dahan is performed which signifies destroying the negativity of their life in the fire.

Cultural dance and music performance, puppet show is a part of the festival celebration. According to the mythology it celebrates the death of demon Holika by Prahalatham, a devotee of Lord Vishnu.

History of Holika Dahan:

The name is taken from the mythological female demon known as “Holika”. According to the scriptures this female died during when she was trying to burn her brother “King Hiranyakashyap’s son”. The next day people smeared each other’s face with the ash and that turned out to be coloring each other's face with different colors. 

Rituals of Holi Festival:

There are many rituals that are done in Holi from the color play to others.

Playing with colors and smearing color powder on each other:

One of the most popular ways of celebrating Holi is smearing each other’s face with the colourful powders. In prehistoric times, people smeared each other with the ashes after the devil burned in the pyre as she was trying to burn King Hiranyakasyap’s son. 

Throwing colored water

According to the mythology, Lord Krishna was mischievous and he played pranks on girls and drenched them water. But now it has become a part of the Holi ritual when people throw colored water at each other.

Matka Pot

On the festival of Holi this ritual is performed in the northern and western states of India such as Punjab and Maharashtra. The Matka (earthen pot) is filled with buttermilk and held by ropes from a height.  After that males of a particular group form a pyramid and try to reach the highest point to break the “Matka” and females throw water at them making it difficult for them to break the “Matkas”. 

Lathmar : Hitting the men with sticks:

It is a ritual of “man beating” where the part of villages take part in this. Males annoy the females and then they beat them by “Lathis” in return. This ritual is celebrated basically in Mathura, UP known as the “land of young Krishna”. According to mythology Radha and Krishna were involved in this game and has now become a ritual.