| Holi Festival |
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Holi is the most colorful festival of India, which is celebrated at the start of spring season, during the month of March, on Phalgun Purnima. This festival is celebrated with great pomp and enthusiasm throughout out India. However it is in Uttar Pradesh that Holi is celebrated with greatest enthusiasm.
Legend says that the evil Holika who could not be burnt by fire tried killing her nephew Prahalad, by taking him in a fire. However instead of Prahalad dying, Holika died in the fire. And this is the reason why Holi is celebrated as a festival marking the burning of self-conceit, greet, lust, hatred, selfishness and all demoniac tendencies. Holi starts at midnight with a bonfire marking the death of Holika and it is the next day that people color each other with wet and dry colors. Groups of people flock to friends and relatives places to color them; and it is quite difficult to identify people with the colored faces and clothes. This coloring is followed with sumptuous food, like the sweet dish, Ghujhiya. People dress in their best to go visiting in the evenings. Holi is a festival having a significance of uniting people of various classes of society when they come together in celebration, while breaking barriers. Braj Holi is slightly different where celebrations start a week earlier than the rest of India. This is the season where the men from Nandagaon (Krishna’s village) raid Barsana (Radha’s village) to raise a flag on Shri Radhikaji temple. Women from Barsana greet them while beating them with long wooden sticks and colored water where the men have to be well padded as they cannot retaliate. Their only ammunition is water guns which they use to drench ladies and distract them. This Holi festival is also called Lathmar Holi of Mathura. Varanasi Holi is celebrated for 10 days where the ghats of Varanasi and river Ganges get heavily colored. People move in expanding groups where music, dance and food are important. In a bid to get more enthusiastic, Thandai which is a milk preparation with Bhaang (Cannabis leaves) is consumed by everyone. Kanpur Holi lasts 7 days with color and a grand fair called Ganga Mela that was started by freedom fighters who were freed from British rule after Holi. Lucknow Holi is celebrated following Nawab’s culture and etiquettes where gulal and natural colors are used instead of chemical colors. People are not roughly colored so that no one is irritated. |
