Holi Traditions
India celebrate the festival of color with traditional flavor... ‘Thandai, Gujiya’ 'Gulal' and seasonal crops are remain high demand for the celebrations. Festivity for fun-filled festival begun quite earlier this week.
The two day festival comprises traditional bonfire (Holika Dahan) on the first day, which is followed by colorful ‘Holi’ on the second day. Holi festival and traditions are good opportunity of family gathering and societal associations.
Holi lies in the month of Phalgun which is the last month according to Hindu calendar. After Holi people began to prepare for the Hindu New Year celebration which marked on the first day of month of Chaitra. To welcome New Year, ancestors of Hindu's use to harvest or buy seasonal crops including chickpea, wheat and barley and roast them in the Holi bonfire. It is believed that these crops are a type of Prasad and would bring happiness to the family.
Holi celebrations means Thandai and Gujiya for Indians. Thandai is sweetened milk which is prepared by using nuts, dry fruits, saffron, fennel seed etc and Gujiya is a traditional sweet for Holi which is made by whole wheat flour, ‘khoya’ and cardamom seeds. Other savories for Holi include ‘Matthi’, ‘Saankh’, potato chips etc.
As per the tradition, people worship Ganga and Lord Hanuman on Holi. People claim that they burn their ill behaviors with the bonfire. According to the ancient tale, this bonfire is a replica of ‘Holika’ which was burned to save Prahalad from Hiranyakashyap.
Another story of Holika Dahan - bonfire is related with Putana Vaddh- devil killing in the era of Lord Krishna. After the death of the devil, people cut her body in a number of pieces and burn them. That incident also relate with Holi Dahan.
About Colors : People love to play with Abir, Gulal and colors. Kids play with Pichkari and balloons. More than seven colors dry colors are used in Holi celebration including Red, Blue, Green, Pink, Orange, Yellow and Purple. In water color people use even golden, silver and metallic color.
That's a bit about Holi... Thanks for reading and Happy Holi :)
Mugdha
The two day festival comprises traditional bonfire (Holika Dahan) on the first day, which is followed by colorful ‘Holi’ on the second day. Holi festival and traditions are good opportunity of family gathering and societal associations.
Holi lies in the month of Phalgun which is the last month according to Hindu calendar. After Holi people began to prepare for the Hindu New Year celebration which marked on the first day of month of Chaitra. To welcome New Year, ancestors of Hindu's use to harvest or buy seasonal crops including chickpea, wheat and barley and roast them in the Holi bonfire. It is believed that these crops are a type of Prasad and would bring happiness to the family.
Holi celebrations means Thandai and Gujiya for Indians. Thandai is sweetened milk which is prepared by using nuts, dry fruits, saffron, fennel seed etc and Gujiya is a traditional sweet for Holi which is made by whole wheat flour, ‘khoya’ and cardamom seeds. Other savories for Holi include ‘Matthi’, ‘Saankh’, potato chips etc.
As per the tradition, people worship Ganga and Lord Hanuman on Holi. People claim that they burn their ill behaviors with the bonfire. According to the ancient tale, this bonfire is a replica of ‘Holika’ which was burned to save Prahalad from Hiranyakashyap.
Another story of Holika Dahan - bonfire is related with Putana Vaddh- devil killing in the era of Lord Krishna. After the death of the devil, people cut her body in a number of pieces and burn them. That incident also relate with Holi Dahan.
About Colors : People love to play with Abir, Gulal and colors. Kids play with Pichkari and balloons. More than seven colors dry colors are used in Holi celebration including Red, Blue, Green, Pink, Orange, Yellow and Purple. In water color people use even golden, silver and metallic color.
That's a bit about Holi... Thanks for reading and Happy Holi :)
Mugdha
Happy Holi 2015! Indeed this festival means a lot and a whole lot of celebration goes around. You have narrated the festival in an interesting way with good pictures. Really enjoyed the post.
ReplyDeleteI love the food & drinks:)
ReplyDeleteHappy Holi!