India
is an ancient and unique land of vibrant fairs and enthralling festivals.
Each and every season in India has some special treasures in itself. With
the arrival of each season multi-cultural and multi-lingual Indians get
prepared to welcome the season with overwhelming joy and enthusiasm. Some
most popular festival of India are Baisakhi, Lohri, Diwali, Dusshera, Bihu,
Onam, Pongal and Holi.
When is Holi Celebrated?
Holi, the festival of colors is celebrated with the arrival of spring
season. It marked as the opening festival in Hindu calendar and falls on the
full moon day in the month of Phalgun (February / March). Due to the
multi-lingual feature of India, this spring festival is known by various
other names such as Phagwa in Bhojpui, Holla Mohalla in Punjabi and Dolyatra
or Basanta utsav in Bengali. But the main essence of celebration remains the
same. Breaking the shackles of caste, creed and religion, people in each and
every nook and corner of our country celebrate this festival with utmost joy
and cherish the moments of celebration.
How is Holi Celebrated?
Not only children or youngsters, even the old people wait anxiously for
Holi, so that they revive and relive their hey days. It is a two day long
festival in which on the first day people symbolically burn demoness Holika,
Hiranyakashipu's sister who has tried to killed the young Prahlad, great
devotee of Lord Vishnu. On the second day, people spend the day throwing
coloured powder and colorful water with the help of pichkari at each other.
It is known as the Dulheti. After than, people used to gorge on thandai
prepared with bhaang and some delicious and lip smacking sweets and snacks
specially prepared in the households to celebrate Holi such as Malpua and
Gujia.
Which are the major places of Holi Fiesta?
In every state of India, the festival of color is celebrated in a special
and unique way. Barsana and Mathura region of Uttar Pradesh is famous
worldwide for its Lath Mar Holi. Here men used to sing provocative songs to
attract the attention of women and women used to chase them with lathis or
sticks. The Rada Rani Temple of Barsana is the main venue for this
celebration. Anandpur Sahib of Punjab is also famous all around the world
for its Holi. People in West Bengal, celebrate Holi as Dol Yatra in which
they placed the icons of Krishna and Radha on the swings and sing devotional
songs and throw colors or 'abir' on them. In Shantinekatan, girls tends to
wear yellow saris and welcome the season with dance and music.
