Added: 12/26/2005 |
Holi Is The Most Celebrated Indian FestivalWhen speaking about Indian festivals, we should emphasize their dominant role in bringing all community members together. The majority of Indian festivals are held to commemorate important dates on the national calendar. One of the most significant Indian festivals is Holi, observed throughout India as a holiday of the spring season.
Some historians assume that the festival had been established several centuries before Christ as a special rite of worshipping Raka, or the full moon, by married women for prosperity and happiness of their families.
There two ways of determining the lunar month that exist: Amanta and Purnimanta. In Amanta the first day marks the beginning of the new moon, while in Purnimanta it starts after the full moon. Thus, the Indian festival of Holika is now seen as a holiday of merriment, announcing the beginning of the spring season. This fact explains two other names of the event: Kama-Mahotsava and Vasanta-Mahotsava.
Various legends point out the three reasons of the festival's celebration. According to the first legend, it was the day when Lord Siva reduced the God of Love, Cupid, to ashes. Another version is related to the day when the sister of the demon king, Hiranyakasyapu, Holika, tried to kill the king's son Prahlad, and was burnt while Prahlad remained alive. Finally the Indian festival of Holika claims to have connections to the ogress, Dhundhi, who was forced to run away for life.
No rituals of religious nature like worship or fasting are observed during the festival.
Regarded as the most colorful festival worldwide, Holi is celebrated in early March or early April on the full moon of Purima, according to the Hindu calendar, as the Indian holiday of spring, joy and happiness. People dress in their nicest clothes and watch a large fire, which signifies the burning of Holika.
The second day of the holiday is a day of visits to friends and relatives and throwing colors on each other.
The traditional drink of the holiday is Thandai, containingan amount of marijuana to make the holiday more joyful.
During the Indian festival of Holika people spray family members and friends with colored water and powders. For this reason the holiday is called sometimes the Festival of Colors, close in spirit to St. Valentine's Day.
Holi brings together people of different sex, age, and social position: men and women, employers and employees, young and old. It is marked by the loosening of social norms and restrictions. However, some parts of the country observe the festival in dignified and quiet manner. To these belongs Bengal, where Holi features the Swing Festival Dolayatra, or Dolapurnima.
The festival had been arranged first by the king Indradyumna in Vrndavana to honor Agni and worship Krsna. The fire lit on the first day of the event should be preserved during all five days of the festival.
In some parts of the country, like Bengal, Puri, Vrndavan and Mathura, Holi is also observed as the Sri Krsna Chaitanya's birthday. In 2006 Holi will be celebrated on March 14.
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