Holi, the world-famous festival of colours, is a sight you will never forget. Bright clouds of powder dye thrown into the air, the cheering of the crowd, loud music, dancing, laughing, water guns with coloured water – this is what you’ll see during Holi wherever you go! In fact, Holi became so popular that now it’s celebrated far outside of Nepal and India, where it originated. It’s so fun and cheerful that anyone can relate to it no matter what their background is!
It’s about equality
During this festival everyone comes together as one, forgetting their differences, religions, races, castes, and social statuses. By putting colours on each other’s faces people celebrate acceptance and unity. Foreigners mingle with the locals and no one can tell who is who because of the dye on their faces!
Yummy food
During Holi Indian families prepare a mouth-watering sweet called gujiya. It’s a stuffed dumpling made with thin dough, filled with all kinds of yummies like coconut, cashews, pistachios, cardamom, and raisins. The recipes vary greatly all across India.
Good vs. Evil
One of the reasons people celebrate Holi is the triumph of good over evil. According to the legend there was an evil king Hiranyakashyap who made everyone worship him like a god. Nevertheless, his son Prahlad was the only one who didn’t want to do that as he knew it was wrong. Instead, he fervently worshipped Lord Vishnu, making the king so angry that he decided to kill the boy. To do that he asked his demon sister Holika, who was immune to fire, to sit on a pyre with a boy, thus burning him alive. She did that, but Prahlad prayed to Lord Vishnu and his prayers were answered. The boy lived, but demon king’s sister Holika burned on a pyre.
The beginning of spring
Holi marks the official ending of winter and the beginning of warm spring days. Holi is celebrated at the day of full moon in the month of Phalgun, according to the Vedic calendar. So it’s finally spring time for India!
The celebration of love
According to another story, Holi originated because Krishna was poisoned by the milk of Putana as a kid and it made his skin a bluish colour. He was really worried that his beloved fair-skinned Radha wouldn’t like him, that’s why his mother advised him to smear some dye over his face to change its colour. Krishna did it playfully and was beyond happy when Radha accepted him despite his dark bluish skin. That’s why Holi is also a celebration of love!
It is celebrated all over the world
You don’t need to be Hindu or know anything about Indian mythology to celebrate Holi. That’s what makes it so easy for everyone to join and just have fun! We bet there’s at least some kind of Holi celebration brewing in your city right now. You can also see people throwing dye and balloons with coloured water at each other on the streets of Mauritius, Barcelona, and the Philippines.
It’s fun
Holi is the most fun festival not only in India, but across the globe as well. Where else will you see peaceful gatherings of cheerful people laughing and dancing and throwing colours at each other? It’s a sight like no other! By celebrating Holi you celebrate openness, kindness, and tolerance. You also get to play around like a kid!
It looks amazing
The best way to experience Holi is to put on some bright white clothes so that the colours could pop out more, and go dive into the diverse colourful crowd. Nothing can quite compare to this experience!
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