India is a secular, multicultural and multi-linguistic country with many festivals. But the festival closest to my heart is the upcoming festival, the festival of Holi. Holi, the festival of colors also known as the festival of love! It is a sacred ancient Hindu festival that has been celebrated in India and Nepal for centuries and has in present transcended the boundaries of countries, faith and covered this globe with its vibrant colors and symbolism.
This effervescent festival is celebrated as per Hindu lunar calendar in the month of Phalguna and in Gregorian Calendar, the month of March and April. It is an end to cold winter months and marks the beginning of spring.
A lesser known fact about Holi is that it is a two-day festival. It starts on the full moon night and ends at sunset the next day. There are many origin stories about Holi. The first legend is related to the victory of good over Evil. Lord Vishnu defeated the Evil king Hirnakashyup along with his sister Holika. He did it to protect his disciple Prahalad who was a righteous and faithful devotee.
There is a symbolic burning of Holika on the first day of Holi called “Choti Holi” or Holika Dahan. The best way to explain Holi to you is to take you on a trip down my memory lane. When I was a child, on this day delicious food would be prepared and offered to the Gods and ancestors at the shrine in our home. The plate called”Thali” in Hindi would have “Puri, Aloo ki Sabzi, kadhi, chawl and Halwa”. So the plate would comprise of type of fried tortillas, savory potato vegetables, a chickpea and yogurt, Rice and scrumptious dessert made with roasted broken wheat, sugar, dry fruits and ghee. At Sunset, we would go to the community temple where volunteers would set up a bonfire. We would circle around it and offer the first crop of wheat (still in their husk), coconut, kumkum and other ritualistic offerings. The burning of this fire or symbolic burning of Holika has religious connotations. It is symbolic of bringing an end to negative energy and inviting positivity in our lives - it is cleansing your soul. People dance and sing around this bonfire and it's a cheerful anticipation of the next day, the day of Color!!
Before we proceed, let me reflect on some religious and cultural aspects of this day. The next day of Holi is called Dhulandi, Dhuleti or RangWali Holi! Rang is the Hindi word for Color. It is an apt description of this festival. The legend associated to this day is the celebration of the divine love of Lord Krishna and Radha. It symbolizes that love can transcend beyond colors and that love makes this world colorful.
We kids would be very restless on this night and the wait for dawn always seemed longer. The planning was also to catch our friends by surprise so we could put color on them before they could do it to us. We had to prepare ourselves with military precision. We would fill the balloons with water, make sure we had enough colors to last the day and our”Pichkari” or water gun was working. Morning would start with a lot of anticipation. My mom would set a time before which we could not go out (before sunrise!). So we would wake up and have a hearty breakfast made up of sweet and savory treats that my mom, aunts and grandma would make before. One of my favorite treats called “Gujiya” looks like empanadas. They are filled with a mixture of Milk solids, dry fruits, sugar and coconut and deep fried in Ghee. They are delicious and I can feel my mouth watering just thinking about them.
So after making sure our coloring arsenal was in place, we would go around in the neighborhood playing with friends. Adults would usually color with Gulal and abeer that were more organic and dry. They could be washed away fast. Us kids, on the other hand, would use colors in all hues Red, Yellow, Green, Orange Purple, Black….. It would be a kaleidoscope of colors in the surroundings. The thrill of chasing one another with balloons and water pistols and avoiding getting color on us while making sure everyone around us was colored was exhilarating. One time, we sisters had filled up a clay vessel with water balloons. They were discovered by my brother and those same balloons that we had spent our energy on were thrown on us! That memory still makes me smile.The giggles we would have looking at our classmates with varied degrees of colors all over were uncontrollable. Oh, those faces!
Sometimes there would be groups of people going around in the neighborhood singing and dancing to folk songs on the rhythmic beats of Dholak and Chang. The beats of the drums were infectious and the joy was contagious.
While having fun, we would also take breaks and sample the various delicious treats prepared in our host houses. Some other memorable treats that come to my mind our Shakkarpare, (sweet treat with all purpose flour), mathri (savory chips with all purpose four ) and dahi vada (lentil dumplings soaked in water then topped with yogurt and spice mixture). There was one strict household rule that we followed: playing outside with colors and not venturing inside the homes. By evening, it was time to return to our beds.
The playfulness and childish joy that we find in this festival of colors has made it a riot of fun. The significance of coloring one another seems trivial but the hidden message is rather magnanimous. Holi is a festival of embracing differences and forgiveness. You are supposed to rise above your ego and anger. It teaches to look beyond the social boundaries and start life afresh.
Today, the celebration of Holi looks a little different from my childhood memories. When water is a major concern environmentally, the focus is on having a dry Holi and avoiding use of water in an effort to conserve it. The colors used are also more organic and derived from flowers and vegetables so as to reduce the impact it can have on the environment.
It is also a little different when it comes to weather. This year, Holi is on March 24th and 25th. In our hometown of Port Washington, this weekend has started with temperatures below freezing whereas in India, it is 34 degrees in centigrade. It would be an adventure if someone asked me to play with water here. But that said, the spirit of Holi hasn't changed. We still follow our beliefs that good will triumph over evil. So we would beat the cold and simply wear our jackets to head out into this world to color one friend at a time - with love and kindness.
