NEW DELHI: Millions of Indians celebrated on Friday the festival of colors, Holi, which marks the end of winter.
Symbolizing the triumph of good over evil, Holi is observed on the last full moon in the lunar month of Phalguna with bonfires, sweets, dancing to traditional music, and splashing others with colorful powders.
One of India’s biggest festivals, it is also among the major homecoming seasons, when people head to their native towns to reunite with family members.
“We start our morning by visiting other people’s houses and we meet people who we have not interacted with for a year. We apply colors on each other and then we sit together and eat. We play music and dance,” said Dr. Ashok Kumar Sharma, lecturer at Kurukshetra University in the northern state of Haryana.
“Holi is a festival to connect with the people and it’s a time when we embrace each other forgetting our differences and disputes.”
Holi derives its name from Holika, the demon sister of the evil King Hiranyakashipu in Indian mythology, who tried to forbid his son from worshiping the Hindu deity Vishnu and wanted to kill him with her help.
Hiranyakashipu ordered the two of them to sit on a burning pyre, lying to the son that his aunt, who was immune to fire, would protect him. But when the flames struck, it was Holika who burnt to death and the demon king’s son survived with the help of Vishnu.
The night before Holi, Hindus burn pyres to symbolize the death of Holika and the triumph of good over evil. As the next day arrives, they pelt each other with powdered pigments.
“This is a festival to enjoy without getting into formal dress and formal manner. We have nice food and also reflect how we should live together ... We connect with the people with (whom we) have fought. We try to connect by forgetting personal differences,” Ravi Kumar, an entrepreneur, told Arab News.
As president of a housing society in Vikaspuri, West Delhi, he made arrangements for celebrations in his area.
“This is a community festival where in our housing colony we seek collective opinion what they want to eat on this special occasion ... We have made arrangements for cooking special mutton and rajma (red kidney beans in tomato gravy) and people will contribute to that and all of them will enjoy them,” Kumar said.
“We also made a special arrangement for a DJ on the grounds of the housing society. People will play colors and dance and enjoy themselves.”
Those who enjoy Holi the most are children, as they can get away with various types of mischief and enjoy a day off from school.
“For kids, I think this is one of the most fun festivals in the year. Kids use a lot of watercolors and it’s the one time of the year they can spray colors on total strangers and get away with it. So, for kids this means having a lot of sweets, pranks and total liberty,” said Simran Sodhi, a media worker in Delhi.
For her, it was mainly a time for family and friends. “And a time to celebrate the bonds we have created in our lives,” she told Arab News.
“I feel it’s the time of the year when we welcome the spring season, and for me it means life continuing its cycle of colors and bonds.”
