While the most awaited Festival of the country is right around the corner, people are gearing for a day of intense celebration and an all around fun. All the colours, water balloons and toy guns are there to welcome the friends and sometimes, the strangers as well. What is in that that makes this particular festival the most celebrated day of the year? One thing can be all the colour and the joyful environment that takes all the stress and worries away for the day and sometimes, that is all that people need. The already colourful country must have more than one reason to celebrate this very auspicious day and rightly so, there is more than one reason to do so.

On the outside, Holi is just another festival than its very own set of traditions and rituals but going deeper in the thoughts gives a better point of view related to the festival. It happens to be highly significant for the country in terms of cultural, social and even environmental aspects.  It is very hard to trace the exact time period when the celebrations of Holi began and exact reasons have also been mythical to some degree and the myths and legends surrounding the festival has given it some of its most widely practiced rituals. The rituals such as Holika Dahan are celebrated across the country and now, in the present times when the influence of Indians has been growing across the globe, in the other countries as well.

Lathmar Holi

Holika Dahan

Holi is known as a mythologically significant festival, the most widespread myth surrounding the festival belongs to the legends of Demon King Hiranyakashipu and his godly son Prahlad. The story says that Prahlad was a hard core Vishnu Devotee while his father was against of that for he considered himself to be above all gods. He did some cruel things in order to keep his only son away from worshipping Vishnu and that led to a lot of anarchy in their lives. After all the things that he tried failed, he decided to kill his son and called his sister Holika to help him getting rid of his son.

Holika was said to be immune from fire as she got the boon from one of the gods she used to worship. The king asked her to take the little boy in her lap and sit on the fire. He thought the fire is going to kill Prahlad but as it happens to be the case, the fire didn’t touch Prahlad and Holika was burned to ashes. And the deity Vishnu was behind this plot twist. From that day onwards it became a ritual and people in all parts of India burns the Holikas of their live under the full moon night sky.

And that marks the beginning of the festival, as it is widely accepted. Whatever may the reason be, this festival is a lot of fun and must be celebrated with extreme caution.

Tagged: cultural holi, festival of holi, holi festival, holiday in holi, holika dhahan, kerala holi, lathmar holi