Holi

Festival Description

Holi is also known as the festival of colors, festival of springs and festival of love. This marks the end of winter and the beginning of spring harvest season. People take great delight in celebrating the festival by distributing sweets and spraying colors on each other. On the eve of Holi, people gather around Bon fires and mark it as Holika dhan. People apply the ashes leftover on their forehead which they believe shall protect them from all the evil forces.
There are many legends according to Hindu mythology on why Holi is celebrated. The demon king Hiranakashyap demanded everyone in his kingdom to worship him. But his son, prahlad was a strong devotee of Lord Vishnu and refused to worship Hiranakashyap. For this reason, he wanted his son to be killed. He requested his sister Holika who had a boon which makes her immune to fire to take prahlad into the fire. When holika entered fire with prahlad, she got burnt alive but Lord Vishnu saved prahlad. This day is celebrated as the victory of good over evil. According to another famous legend; In the kingdom of prithu, an evil ogress named Dhundhi used to trouble the children. On the day of Holi, she was chased away by the children of Prithu. Hence kids are granted permission to play pranks. As per another legend; Lord Krishna’s evil uncle Kansa wanted to kill Lord Krishna when he was an infant. He approached the evil monstress Pootana to poison Lord Krishna’s milk. However, Lord Krishna killed her by sucking her blood.
The streets are completely filled with colors and people flock on the streets going from home to home and applying colors. Bhang which is known to be a intoxicating drink is consumed on this day. It is believed that Lord Krishna started this trend of applying colors. It is known that he applied color on Radha to make her his. Hence most of the lovers apply colors on their beloved. It is a festival that is believed to bring harmony and brotherhood amongst people.