Holi – The most popular festival in India

The festival of colors, Holi, also called Phagwa (Bhojpur), Holla Moholla (Punjab) and Boshonto Utsav (West Bengal), is perhaps the most popular festival in India. It is mainly celebrated by Hindus (although not limited to them), in the spring season.

Holi is also celebrated in some other countries such as Nepal, UK, Guyana and Trinidad, although not on the same scale and magnitude as in India. In India, the festival of colors is celebrated with much joy and joyous abandon throughout the country, especially in Bihar, UP, West Bengal, Punjab and Delhi.

Most people celebrate the festival of colors by sprinkling each other with buckets of colored water and throwing colorful balloons at each other. But some people, especially in Kolkata and adjoining areas, perhaps for socio-cultural reasons, celebrate the Holi festival in a somewhat passive and easy way.

At Holi time, special Holi songs are sung, lip smacking and sweets such as Gujhia (deep-fried cake filled with aromatic mixture of nuts) are prepared and gifts are exchanged. Ordinary revelers prepare and enjoy a special drink, called Thandai, which sometimes contains bhang, making the festival really fun, yet very enjoyable.

holi legends

Legend has it that Prahlad, the son of Hirankashyap, was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu. This greatly irritated his father, who asked his sister Holika, also called Holaka and Putana, to kill her son. As Holika was wounded with a boon that allowed her to enter the fire and escape from her unharmed, she entered a burning fire together with Prahlad. But, while she was killed, Prahlad survived when Lord Vishnu himself came to his rescue.

Since then, to celebrate the victory of Prahlad and the victory of good over evil, one day before the main festival of Holi, people light bonfires called Holika in public places. On the occasion of Holika, in North India, a special dish is prepared from gram flour and curd (Dahi Besan Curry) which is first offered to the god of fire and then savored with family and friends.

Another legend suggests that Lord Krishna loved to play and amuse himself with his consorts and sprinkle them with colored water. Over the years, this practice attracted people’s attention and they began to celebrate it as Holi.

The festival celebrates brotherhood and the spirit of life, and inspires people to cast off the shackles of caste and religious intolerance to enjoy the purity of life like never before. Holi also expounds the virtues of being truthful and leading a virtuous and righteous life. No wonder Holi is the most popular and celebrated festival in India.