Holi

One of the major festivals of India, Holi is celebrated with enthusiasm and gaiety on the full moon day in the month of Phalgun which is the month of March as per the Gregorian calendar.

Holi festival may be celebrated with various names and people of different states might be following different traditions. But, what makes Holi so unique and special is the spirit of it which remains the same throughout the country and even across the globe, wherever it is celebrated.
Holika Dahan
On the eve of Holi, called Chhoti or Small Holi people gather at important crossroads and light huge bonfires, the ceremony is called Holika Dahan. This tradition is also followed in Gujarat and Orissa. To render greatfulness to Agni, god of Fire, gram and stalks from the harvest are also offered to Agni with all humility. Ash left from this bonfire is also considered sacred and people apply it on their foreheads. People believe that the ash protects them from evil forces.
Play of Colors
Great excitement can be seen in people on the next day when it is actually the time for the play of colours. Shops and offices remain closed for the day and people get all the time to get crazy and whacky. Bright colours of gulal and abeer fill the air and people take turns in pouring colour water over each other. Children take special delight in spraying colours on one another with their pichkaris and throwing water balloons and passers by. Women and senior citizen form groups called tolis and move in colonies - applying colours and exchanging greetings. Songs, dance on the rhythm of dholak and mouthwatering Holi delicacies are the other highlights of the day.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bhagat Singh

Image
Bhagat Singh   ( 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian socialist revolutionary whose two acts of dramatic violence against the British in India and execution at age 23 made him a folk hero of the Indian independence movement. In December 1928, Bhagat Singh and an associate, Shivaram Rajguru, fatally shot a 21-year-old British police officer, John Saunders, in Lahore, British India, mistaking Saunders, who was still on probation, for the British police superintendent, James Scott, whom they had intended to assassinate.They believed Scott was responsible for the death of popular Indian nationalist leader Lala Lajpat Rai, by having ordered a lathi charge in which Rai was injured, and, two weeks after which, died of a heart attack. Saunders was felled by a single shot from Rajguru, a marksman.He was then shot several times by Singh, the postmortem report showing eight bullet wounds.Another associate of Singh, Chand...
Read more

Ganga River

Image
The  Ganges  or  Ganga , is a transboundary river of Asia which flows through India and Bangladesh The 2,525 km (1,569 mi) river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of India and Bangladesh, eventually emptying into the Bay of Bengal.The Ganges is a lifeline to millions who live along its course.It is a most sacred river to Hindus, and worshiped as the goddess  Ganga  in Hinduism.It has been important historically: many former provincial or imperial capitals (such as Patliputra, Kannauj, Kara, Kashi, Allahabad, Murshidabad, Munger, Bharampur, Kampilya and Kolkata) have been located on its banks. This river is the longest in India.During the early Vedic age of the  Rigveda , the Indus and the Sarasvati River wer...
Read more

Range Rover

Image
The  Land Rover Range Rover  (generally known simply as a  Range Rover ) is a full-sized luxury sport utility vehicles(SUV) from Land Rover, a marque of Jaguar Land Rover. The Range Rover was launched in 1970 by British Leyland. This flagship model is now in its fourth generation.Jaguar Land Rover has also extended the use of the Land Rover Range Rover sub-brand with the introduction of Range Rover Evoque, the Range Rover Velar and the Range Rover Sport. History The Rover Company (originator of the Land Rover marque) was experimenting with a larger model than the Land Rover Series in 1951, when the Rover-P4 based two-wheel-drive "Road Rover" project was developed by Gordon Bashford.This was shelved in 1958, and the idea lay dormant until 1966, when engineers Spen King and Bashford set to work on a new model. The fourth generation Range Rover, codenamed L405, was ...
Read more