Happy Holi! Holi is the second and least religious of the Hindu Holidays. I was able to experience Holi in all its full color!!! Here is the rundown of how the holiday works...
- You wake up early in the morning and fill your water baloons or water guns or water weapons with colored dye of ALL colors.
- Once you have all your 'weapons' together you then go door to door visiting close friends and family.
- You knock on people's doors and then take powdered dye and smear it all over their faces, neck, or hair while saying "Happy Holi"
- There are several extremes to this day. For example buckets full of water, or swimming pools with dye and people dunking themselves in the pool. It was a crazy, YET SUPER FUN HOLIDAY!!!
The Bonfire at my apt complex the night before.
Us going door to door with dye wishing people a Happy Holi.
Bobby and Elaine's colony after their "Holi War".
Coop, Kim, and I. This is after Kim and Coop had already scrubbed their faces.
Members of my time taking refuge!!
This is me at the end of the morning. Dye every where and soaked to the bone!! It took me 20 minutes to scrub the dye off my face so that it wouldn't stain. The day after Holi, I saw so many Indians with the dye still on their faces....SO FUN!!!!
Below is some information for those of you nerds (like myself) who want to know more about the holiday.
History and Meaning of Holi
Celebrated all over India since ancient times, Holi's precise form and purpose display great variety. Originally, Holi was an agricultural festival celebrating the arrival of spring. This aspect still plays a significant part in the festival in the form of the colored powders: Holi is a time when man and nature alike throw off the gloom of winter and rejoice in the colors and liveliness of spring. Holi also commemorates various events in Hindu mythology, but for most Hindus it provides a temporary opportunity for Hindus to disregard social norms, indulge in merrymaking and generally "let loose."
The legend commemorated by the festival of Holi involves an evil king named Hiranyakashipu. He forbade his son Prahlad from worshipping Vishnu, but Radhu continued to do offer prayers to the god. Getting angry with his son, Hiranyakashipu challenged Prahlad to sit on a pyre with his wicked aunt Holika who was believed to be immune to fire. (In an alternate version, Holika put herself and Prahlad on the fire on orders from her brother.) Prahlad accepted the challenge and prayed to Vishnu to keep him safe. When the fire started, everyone watched in amazement as Holika was burnt to death, while Prahlad survived without a scar to show for it. The burning of Holika is celebrated as Holi. According to some accounts, Holika begged Prahlad for forgiveness before her demise, and he decreed that she would be remembered every year at Holi.
2 comments:
What a fun way to celebrate a holiday! I wish that we had something as fun here in the U.S.!
Y'all look as bad as we did! Isn't it the most fun holiday?
I know it's not perfect, but do you notice a semi-correlation between holi and those 3 men who were thrown into the furnace for not bowing down to Nebudcha...? I did, anyway. :)
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