Holi holiday and its origins: what is the reason for this bright event in mid-spring. Holi festival in India When will there be a festival of colors?

Not everyone knows that the largest festival of colors, Holi, can be seen in India. Holi is a folk festival of India, the traditions of which they have been observing for more than three hundred years and are not going to abandon them in the near future. The festival of colors symbolizes the arrival of spring and the end of a long winter.

The Holi festival of colors does not have an exact date. It can be held in February or March, it all depends on the full moon - the festival begins the day after it.

History of Holi

The first mention of this holiday appeared in the ancient Sanskrits, as well as in the Vedas (these are collections of ancient Hindu scriptures in Sanskrit). Another proof of the existence of this holiday is a stone inscription made three centuries ago.

The origin of this festival is explained by several legends that have come down to us through many generations.

The first legend says that the name of the holiday was given in honor of the demoness, the sister of the strict and evil king Hiranyakasipu. The ruler gained the opportunity to live forever and therefore began to consider himself a god, and after that he forced everyone to worship only him. The son of this king, Prahlada, recognized only one divine being - Vishnu, and no one could convince him of the power of other deities.

So the king’s sister, Holika, decided to kill her nephew, who did not believe in his father. To do this, she told Prahlada to climb onto the fire, thus paying tribute to the god Vishnu. Everyone believed that the demoness did not burn in fire. It turned out to be quite the opposite - my sister burned down, and Prahlada was saved by the god Vishnu and came out of the fire unharmed.

There is another version of the legend, according to which the king was still endowed with eternal life and demanded complete worship of his personality. But in this story too, the son did not worship his father, and the king’s sister Holika supported Prahlada. Therefore, the ruler decided to punish his sister and son for disobedience - to burn them on a sacred fire.

To save his aunt, Prahlada turned to Vishnu, who gave him a sacred multi-colored scarf. This scarf was considered a gift from all the Gods; they needed to hide Holika in the fire itself. The prince did so, and he sat down next to his aunt, preparing to die. But when the fire began to spread, the scarf flew off Holika and covered Prahlada. This event further strengthened the heir’s faith in Vishnu.

After some time, the king received punishment. When he was near his castle in the evening, God sent deadly lightning into his heart. Thus, evil was punished and justice was restored.

Holiday customs

This tradition is most revered in northern India.

A few days before the start of the Holi holiday in India, the walls of houses are painted, many flower arrangements are placed in the premises, powder, dyes and special sprayers are purchased.

Two weeks before the festival, preparations are underway for it at the city level - artists perform and raise funds for the event; Firewood and brushwood are being prepared for the festive bonfire.

The bonfire itself, on which the effigy of Holika is burned, is lit at night. After this, the cattle are led through the fire and then forced to walk on the remaining coals. The Hindus themselves walk along them. By this, festival participants show their courage and bravery. Residents of India believe that ash brings good luck, and the smoke from a fire dispels all the bad things that have accumulated over the winter. Not only firewood is thrown into the fire, but also fruits, vegetables, flowers, grains and other offerings to the deities.

The festival takes place with a huge number of songs, dances, playing national musical instruments and unbridled fun. Participants in the event throw colored powders at each other. They are obtained from finely ground corn, dyed different colors.

The traditional drink of the Holi festival is thandai with bhang. It is made from milk (or dairy products) and juice (or hemp leaves).

On this night, Hindus roll figurines of different gods on swings, showing them their respect.

This holiday is especially popular with children, because on this day they are allowed any pranks. But adults who worked and raised children throughout the year would also like to take a break from their souls.

For the festival, you need to wear those things that you wouldn’t mind throwing away after the holiday, since there is a high probability that the paint will not wash off.

As soon as the festival ends, people begin to visit each other and take fruits and vegetables as treats. Girls receive gifts from fans, and husbands on this day present gifts to their wives in the form beautiful dress. The holiday usually ends on the third day.

Video

The video is taken from an open source from the YouTube website on the channel

This holiday always comes on a full moon. Holi festival date 2020- March 9 and 10.

Its main and most famous feature is the festival of colors. Indians rejoice like children, sprinkle neon powder on each other and pour colorful water on each other - this is a wish for happiness and abundance. Guests of the country also cannot avoid this action. Someone tries to sit out in a hotel or move around in a tightly closed car, which also becomes like an artist’s palette in a couple of hours. And someone relaxes, succumbs to the atmosphere of unbridled joy and plunges headlong into the holiday.

Holi Festival 2020: a riot of colors

Since almost everywhere in India Holi is associated with Krishna and his bride Radha, these days everything is just drowning in the mood of light flirtation. The courtship dance takes over the streets of cities and villages. Young men try in every possible way to attract attention, and refusal to do such a dance is considered very indecent.

Things to keep in mind during Holi

These days, Indians release their internal brakes and have fun to the fullest. Therefore, it will not be superfluous to take care of some security measures. Still, it will be a pity for the damaged property when the euphoria subsides. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to the following circumstances:

1. Children amuse themselves by sitting on rooftops and throwing water on passers-by. This is something to keep in mind. It is better to protect phones, cameras and other electronic devices with polyethylene.
2. Thieves use the general holiday bustle for their own selfish purposes. Theft is not uncommon in India. Therefore, it is better to leave valuables at home, and carry your bag or backpack in front and hold it with your hands.
3. Most likely, stores will be closed, so groceries and other needs should be taken care of in advance.
4. It is better to wear old clothes, since they will still have to be thrown away, unless they are useful as a souvenir in memory of the holiday.
5. When leaving home, it is advisable to lubricate your skin thick cream. Holiday colors are washed off very poorly, and oil will prevent them from being absorbed into the pores and will make it easier to remove such makeup.
6. The traditional holiday drink is bhang. It is prepared from juice squeezed from hemp leaves. During Holi, Indians do not limit themselves to it, as they do to regular alcohol.

You should not lose vigilance and relax too much. It is believed that the most colorful Holi can be seen in Vrindavan, Mathura or Jaipur. But in another large city - Delhi, Kolkata or Mumbai, the days of the holiday will forever be remembered as a real miracle.

Holi is an annual, one of the most popular Hindu spring festivals, many call it the Festival of Colors, which is held in India. The colorful holiday is celebrated at the end of February - beginning of March and lasts two days. Holi is filled with spring light and a rich variety of colors.

Holi is generally celebrated on the full moon, called Phalgun Purnima in Hindi. People of all ages directly take part in the celebration of the Festival of Colors. Spring, when the weather presents its vagaries, even in India it is changeable and at this time such ailments as colds, acute respiratory infections and ARVI spread. Therefore, sprinkling powders of medicinal herbs such as neem, kumkum, haldi, bilva and others on a festive occasion has a positive effect on the body. Even the sacred healers of Ayurveda recommend everyone to attend the Festival of Colors.

In fact, there are many legends associated with the origin of the holiday. The most popular one is that the Holi holiday originated from the name of the demoness Holika. The son of the evil king Prahlad, worshiped Vishnu, and nothing could dissuade him. Then the king's sister, Holika, who does not burn in fire, persuaded him to go to the fire in the name of God. To everyone's surprise, Holika was burned, but Prahlada came out unharmed. In memory of these events, an effigy of Holika is burned on the eve of Holi. It is this holiday that the Slavs consider to be related to Maslenitsa.

All two days you can count on receiving guests and go on a visit yourself, where you will definitely be treated to sweet dishes made from fruits, milk and sugar. Girls are given bright gifts and outfits. The next morning, tens of millions of Indians will throw handfuls of colored powder into the air - this symbolizes the passing of the worries of the past year and new hopes for a fertile harvest. It’s as if all the streets are covered with rainbow dust, easily flying off the wheels of cars and settling on clothes with every step. This colored dust is everywhere, both on the steps of temples and on the surface of reservoirs. There is so much of it that after a short period of time it becomes difficult to breathe.

The joyful festival of Holi brings together all the people of India. And it doesn’t matter whether you are rich or poor, an official or a commoner, everyone feels that they are a part of a single whole. Next, everyone begins to douse themselves with water tinted with colored powder, six bright colors– red, green, blue, fire, yellow and silver. They pour on everything that can move and move; on the street you can see crazy-colored cows or dogs in incredible colors. Everything is painted as if painted by drunken avant-garde artists.

You cannot yawn on Holi; if someone sees you, then that person is allowed to bathe in a dirty puddle. And, as a rule, they are not offended by this, because everyone is already pumped up with the traditional festive hemp drink Bhang, which allows Indians to forget about their difficult life and truly enjoy the Festival of Colors. It is not permissible to express your anger and resentment on Holi; all colors are washed off very well. And for those tourists who want to take part in the holiday, it is better to wear something worse and leave all their valuables in the room. As a rule, tourists become easy prey for pickpockets and petty thieves, because it costs nothing to check your pockets in a crowd.

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At the beginning of March, Hindus all over the world celebrate the festival of colors Holi 2018. This is one of the most colorful festivals in India.

1. Indian analogue of our Ivan Kupala. Only the water is more colorful and people actually want to be doused. (Photo by Virendra Singh Gosain):

3. Special colored powders are gulal. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar):

4. There are several legends about the origin of Holi. One of them is like this. Shiva incinerated the god of love Kama with his third eye, who tried to bring him out of meditation, after which Kama remained incorporeal. But at the request of Shiva’s wife Parvati and Kama’s wife, goddess Rati, Shiva returned Kama’s body for only 3 months a year. And now, when Kama gains a body, everything around blossoms, and happy people celebrate the most happy holiday spring. (Photo by Adnan Abidi):

5. Colored powders are scattered in tons. All you have to do is take care of your eyes. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri):

6. Celebrating Holi in Kolkata, India. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri):

8. Colorful people in Ahmedabad, India. (Photo by Amit Dave):

10. A few more colorful shots. (Photo by Asit Kumar):

11. (Photo by Debajyoti Chakraborty):

12. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A.):

13. (Photo by Debajyoti Chakraborty):

17. Holi 2018 in Chennai. (Photo by Arun Sankar):

Today, March 6, India celebrates the brightest and colorful holiday in the world - Holi! Seeing it with your own eyes and plunging into a colorful whirlpool on the narrow streets of one of the Indian cities is an absolutely unreal and mind-exploding emotion, a feeling of the most powerful energy of the holiday. It is absolutely useless to describe all this in words... Visiting Holi in India is a must for everyone who is in love with this incredible country, as well as for those for whom traveling is not a dull “beach mattress”, but a bright adventure!

This Friday's corporate trend is congratulations on March 8th, I want to congratulate everyone on the colorful spring holiday! Happy Holi, friends!

In today's report, I will tell and show how Holi is celebrated in the small town of Vrindavan (Uttar Pradesh) 200 km from Delhi. This city is considered one of the main places of pilgrimage for followers of Vaishnavism; Krishna spent his childhood here, and the Banke Bihari Temple is the main place for celebrating Holi in India. Before going to India for Holi, I read a lot different advice and reports about your Holi trip, without preparation and spontaneously, you can make a mistake and not see what you were counting on.

- Which city should I go to for Holi?
- how to take photos on the street and protect your equipment?
- How does all this happen and what should you be prepared for?

This is what we will talk about today...

What is Holi?

Holi (Hindi होली), also known as Phagwah (or Bhojpuri) is an annual popular Hindu spring festival, otherwise known as the Festival of Colors. Lasts two days in late February - early March. In the Hindu calendar, Holi generally falls on the full moon (known as Phalgun Purnima or Poornmashi in Hindi), i.e. the holiday date is floating and differs depending on different years. On the first day of the festival, closer to night, a bonfire is lit, symbolizing the burning of Holika. On the second day, known as Dhalundi, participants perform a kind of religious procession before dusk, showering each other with powder or water.

Some reports say that they celebrate here for several days. This is true, but the main thing you need to focus on is the main date of the holiday and you need to come exactly on it.

I want to see this:

When you type Holi into Google, you will most likely come across stock images of synchronized paint throwing in the air. There is no such thing in India. These pictures were taken at one of the festivals of colors in Europe or the USA.

This, for example, is the festival of colors in Utah in the States. In India, everything is different and everything is real!

Which city should I go to?

Holi is a Hindu holiday, so you need to go to Hindu cities. In various reports I have come across mentions of Mumbai, Varanas, Ahmedabad, each of these cities has a main place and temple where the religious ritual takes place. The most interesting place for me seemed to be Holi in two small towns 200 km from Delhi - Mathura and Vrindavan, where, according to legend, Krishna spent his childhood. I think it would be cool to go to Varanasi for Holi, the narrow streets near the Ganges are ideal for the coloring process :)

We stayed with friends at a hotel in the town of Mathura, where there is a railway station and it is easier to get here from Delhi at any time of the day or night, and Vrindavan is only 10 kilometers from Mathura, so we decided to get up early in the morning and try to catch an auto-rickshaw to Vrindavan . The reports write that Hindus do not work on this day, and in principle, finding a working taxi can be very difficult; no one wants to wash off the paint from their auto-rickshaw afterwards. In fact, it turned out that there were no problems and at 8 am we left for Vrindavan without any problems.

Preparing for the holiday

My tips:

1. Dress in clothes that you will later throw away without regret. Since the paint will be everywhere, in the smallest details and seams.
2. It is advisable to wear a bandana that will cover your hair and ears (!); taking paint powder out of your ears later is not very pleasant. Although on the street they might rip your bandana off and pour paint on your head. This is fine:)
3. Be sure to wear sunglasses or clear swimming goggles. Powder in the eyes is really unpleasant.
4. Take all paper money and documents out of your pockets, take a minimum of things. Be sure to put your phone in a waterproof case. During the celebration, you will be completely doused with water and more than once.

But the main thing is to properly protect your photographic equipment.
We bought the simplest waterproof cases ($5-15) from some Chinese online hardware store. Naturally, with such a case I won’t risk diving under water, but to protect the camera it’s just right:

The problem is that the case is not suitable for large lenses; it did not suit me, but it fit perfectly on a Canon 650D with Sigma 28-200:

But, IMHO, filming in a case is absolutely inconvenient, so take it with you cling film, tape and scissors. With them you can almost perfectly protect your equipment, while fully maintaining the functionality of all the necessary buttons.

I don't recommend changing lenses during the process. Get ready to shoot one thing at a time. Liquid or powder paint can be thrown at any time in any seemingly safe corner, so changing lenses can be very expensive.

I shot with two cameras - a Canon 5D Mark II with a 70-200 mm telephoto and a Fuji X-Pro1 mirrorless camera.
Be sure to wrap the strap tightly, except for the camera itself, so you won’t be able to remove the paint from it later:

BEFORE and AFTER it looked like this in the picture below:

The cameras handled the full day of shooting perfectly. A regular protective filter was screwed onto the lenses, which I wiped many times with the edge of a T-shirt moistened with water. Be sure to bring a bottle of water with you to clean the lens and eyes where the powder gets in.

There is also GoPro, but it is already protected by a case:

Well, let's go to the holiday?!
The main rule on the road is that while in an auto-rickshaw, do not relax and do not lose your vigilance. You will be sprayed with paint insidiously and right in the eye if you gape! From around the corner, from the window of an oncoming auto-rickshaw, whatever!

There are three types of paints:

1. Powder. This is the cheapest option, usually a sachet costs 10 rupees. This option is available to everyone, it is happily scattered along the streets, almost every passerby you meet will come up to you, generously spreading the powder on your face and neck with the words Happy Holi and a kind smile

2. Liquid paint. This option is mainly used from the upper floors or from hydro-pistols.

3. Gel paint in cans. This mass has a very unpleasant consistency, but it is the most expensive option and ordinary Indians do not often spend money on it.

But there is another paint option, the most insidious, but it is rare, more about it below :)

This is a page from the in-flight magazine on an AirIndia aircraft. Even on board you can buy paints, gloves and a special tool for splashing colors on the Holi holiday; in the lower right corner there is some kind of festive jewelry option:

A motor rickshaw in Vrindavan will take you to the city center, but then you need to walk another 15 minutes to the Banki Bihari temple. This is where the fun begins!

To fully enjoy the holiday, you need to completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere, relax and unwind. You are painted and you paint everyone! Smile and congratulate everyone!

From the upper floors they pour liquid paint or just water:

Come on, son, charge those white guys!

Oh yes, well done!

Look at these faces, emotions. It's such a crazy atmosphere here! Real India!!!

The religious ritual itself takes place in the Banki Bihari temple. Come here as early as possible at 9-10 in the morning, because later the number of people becomes unrealistically huge, on the one hand it’s a crush where you need to be extremely vigilant and careful, but on the other hand it’s just crazy energy inside the temple!

You can photograph everything except the altar; they monitor this and make comments. You can also go up to the second floor, be sure to go up! This is something absolutely unreal in sensations and emotions!

We friends got lost in the crowd around noon and someone covered them with green paint! This is real cruelty. If this entire colorful mix can, in principle, be washed off within 2-3 days, then the brilliant green remains very persistent, especially in the hair:

You can only hide and rest in some kind of courtyard or gateway, but even here you can suddenly be covered by some boy with a bag of green paint:

And in the afternoon it all ends, in the afternoon no one throws paint anymore and the city returns to its normal rhythm of life!
Vrindavan is located on the river, you should definitely take a boat ride at sunset - it’s great for relaxing and putting your thoughts in order after such a crazy morning:

Happy Holi, friends!!!

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