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Holi: The Celebration Of Colors

by VioletteRose

Holi is the festival of colors celebrated around the time of spring every year and the date of celebration usually comes in the month of March.

Holi is celebrated across India, especially in the North and also countries like Nepal. Due to the spread of Indian culture across the world, now holi celebrations can be seen in many parts of America and Europe as well. As it is a festival of colors, people celebrate holi by singing and dancing and coloring each other using water colors or colored powder. The date of holi is decided based on the date of full moon occurrence in spring and in 2014, holi celebrations fall on March 17th, Monday.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Image

Holi was traditionally celebrated by Hindus, but nowadays every one seems to enjoy the celebrations regardless of the religion. The origin of this festival is associated with a legend from Hindu religion which narrates a story about the win of good over the evil and the celebrations are associated with it. Along with dance and music programs, cultural events are also organized during the festival. Since this festival is celebrated around the time of spring, it is thought that the origin of the festival is also associated with harvest.

However, the main attraction of the festival is the play with colors and if you happen to be in the middle of a holi celebration, expect to get immersed in water and colors. People use water guns and water filled balloons to spray colors on each other, which is accepted by every one on this day, and they also paint faces with colored powders.

 

Holi Celebrations
Holi Celebrations

The traditional homemade color powders used for Holi celebrations are made from natural sources like turmeric, berries, hibiscus, henna etc. It is believed that the use of spices in making the Holi colors help to improve your health and protects from diseases, since they have much medicinal value including antibacterial properties.

These story books can help kids in understanding the stories related to Holi  and also about the celebrations associated with the festival. They also have beautiful pictures to make the stories more interesting for kids.

Safety During The Celebrations

Holi is meant to be fun and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of age or gender. Unfortunately, there are always people who misbehave and involve in theft and other crimes during the celebrations when large crowds are out there, as it is also the suitable time for their actions.

To be on the safer side,

  • Avoid crowded areas and stay away from public celebrations, especially if you have kids or if you are alone.
  • It is not advisable to travel alone during late evenings and nights during the festival time.
  • If you travel, it is best to go in groups of friends or people you trust.

 

Celebrate With Family And Friends

Holi is best to be celebrated with your family and friends. It is also considered to be the festival of love, and so it is the best time to nurture relationships and forget and forgive others. When you celebrate holi with your own family and friends, then it actually becomes a quality time to spend with your loved ones and you can enjoy together. It is a tradition in Indian families to organize parties and invite relatives and friends to home during the time of Holi. Everyone enjoys the day with music, dance, food and of course the colors. This is a cheerful occasion especially for kids due to the gatherings and celebrations and they would love to have fun with spraying colors on each other.

Have you ever heard about the Holi celebrations?

Updated: 12/08/2014, VioletteRose
 
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WriterArtist on 03/19/2014

Loved playing Holi when I was kid. This was the most enjoying holiday of all.

VioletteRose on 03/19/2014

Thank you EmmaSRose and DerdriuMarriner :)
This year both St. Patrick's day and Holi celebrations were on the same day, I have to see if its like that every year.

DerdriuMarriner on 03/17/2014

VioletteRose, You've selected charming photos for this happy holidays. I'm reading this on St. Patrick's Day, so it's fun to see all the green in the photos.

VioletteRose on 03/13/2014

Thank you :) I am glad you enjoyed reading this!

KathleenDuffy on 03/12/2014

I really enjoyed reading about Holi - which I haven't heard of until now!

VioletteRose on 03/12/2014

Thank you for reading and commenting :)
@Mira That sounds interesting, I didn't know that clover was associated with something other than St. Patrick's Day
@Valeed Nowadays holi is celebrated in many other places outside India, hope you can see it sometime!

Tehreem on 03/12/2014

I have heard a lot about holi but never watched people celebrating it in real. I hope one day when I visit India, I might watch it in person :)

Mira on 03/12/2014

I didn't know about this tradition. We have something similar in March about good winning over evil and spring over winter, but it's not a festival. We just give each other (men to women or women to women, mostly) tokens of good luck: four-leaf clovers, ladybugs, and so forth.

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