Known as the Festival of Colours, Holi is enthusiastically celebrated across India. This year, the festival is going to be celebrated with Holika Dahan on March 28, followed by Rangwali Holi on March 29, 2021.
Table Of Contents
- What is holi?
- What’s the story behind Holi?
- The essence of Holi
- Let’s celebrate Holi this year, but with precautions.
- Celebrate Holi with natural colors.
What is holi?
The Festival of Colors, also called Holika, Phagwa, Dhulheti, or Dhulendi is a popular Hindu Spring festival celebrated around the world by Indians. This festival ushers in the beautiful spring and marks the end of the cold dark days of winter. Powdered colors, balloons filled with colorful water; all these cloud the air in a haze of blues, pinks, yellows, reds, and a myriad of other colors so vividly bright that brings smile and excitement. Holi is the day when people shake off the gloom of winter and rejoice in the vivid colors of spring.
What’s the story behind Holi?
Holi celebrates the victory of good over evil. King Hiranyakashyap, the king of demons was blessed with a boon of immortality which made him believe that he will never die. This made the king egoistic and he believed himself to be supreme of all. Hiranyakashyap’s son, Prahlada never supported his father and worshipped Lord Vishnu. The king got so intensely annoyed and angry with his son that he along with his sister Holika planned to kill Prahlada. Holika wore a fire-resistant cloak and sat in a fire with Prahlada, but as the fire roared the cloak flew to Prahlada, which lead to the death of Holika. Thus the Holika Dahan marks the burning of negativities and hate.
The essence of Holi
Holi is a Sanskrit word, which is also known as Festival of Love, and festival of colors. Holi – the word itself brings so much energy and excitement in the minds of people. The most colorful and vibrant day of India, Holi is a festival that is celebrated with much fervor and fun throughout the country.
But there are some important lessons that you can learn from this festival which give you a different meaning of what Holi is, in a real sense.
The life lessons we can learn from “Holi – The Festival of colors” are:
- Burn down your negativities
A night before Holi, in Holika Dahan, one must try his best to get rid of negative thinking and do the best to lead a peaceful and happy life. Hiranyakaship symbolizes the negativity; his ego blindfolded him to think negatively about his son. Let this Holi mark the end of evil inside you – the negative thinking, that harms your mental health. Negative thinking can worsen your life. Visualize your negative thinking burning along with the fire of Holika dahan. The anger, irritability, frustration, anxiety, and depression do not let a person remain happy. Burn your negative thinking in the bonfire of Holika Dahan and fill new enthusiasm and positive energy in your life.
- Enjoy the various colors of life
Just as different colors are an integral part of the Holi festival, life too consists of different colors i.e. good times, bad times, challenges, happiness, sorrows, success, and failure, etc. Enjoy these different strokes of life and enjoy each color with full energy and excitement.
- Enjoy the warmth of your relationships.
Holi is a perfect opportunity to revitalize and celebrate all relationships which are close to you. The celebrations pump in the collaborative spirit among all and bring you, your family, and friends together. One can enjoy all the relationships and revive the broken relationships on this occasion.
- Forgive and forget
Holi allows us to forgive the ones with who we have differences, even our enemies, and teaches us to celebrate the festival of colors with love and embrace happiness.
Let’s celebrate Holi this year, but with precautions.
Everyone wants to celebrate this festival of colors with enthusiasm and passion. But due to the Coronavirus pandemic prevailing globally, more caution is required this year. This time it is very important to practice precautions while celebrating holi.
▪Clean the hands thoroughly with a sanitizer before playing Holi.
▪It would be in the best interest of you and your family to play Holi with each other at your own home. Avoid going to a crowded place.
▪If some visitors are coming to your house, then let them apply the color only after using sanitizer.
▪ Do not forget to wear a mask while going to public places.
▪Instead of drenching each other completely in color, you can also celebrate the festival by applying tilak on the forehead.
▪Use homemade sweets instead of market made sweets. Take special care of children.
▪If a person has a cold, or mild fever in the house he should not play Holi.
Celebrate Holi with natural colors
There are many synthetic colors or dried paints available in the market. To protect your skin prefer natural colors or homemade colors.
Red Color
The powdered red sandal which is also known as blood-red sandal makes a very beautiful red color. This dry color can be used as Gulal.
Just by boiling two spoonfuls of this powder in water, a lot of colored water for playing holi can be prepared.
From the powders of the Hibiscus flowers dried in the shadow red color can be prepared.
Saffron color
Leave the pink beet pieces of beetroot in a liter of water to soak for the whole night and add water to this solution to make colored water.
Traditionally in India, this is made from the flowers of Saffron Gulal Tesu, also known as Palash. Leave the Tesu flowers to soak in water overnight. And enjoy the color in the morning! It is said that this water has medicinal properties. Saffron color is prepared by adding a pinch of sandalwood powder to one liter of water.
Green color
Mehndi or henna powder can also be used as gulal and color can be prepared by adding water, but the stains of this color do not leave easily.
One can dry the Gulmohar leaves thoroughly and grind them. The natural green gulal is ready for use.
You can also prepare gulal by grinding green wheat leaves well.
Green color can also be prepared by mixing the paste of spinach, coriander or mint leaves in water.
Conclusion
Celebrate this year Holi with natural colors, keeping in mind the pandemic and taking necessary precautions. May this festival help you leave all your negativities, bad habits behind and begin a new life with new hopes.
