It's Holi!

[Vehl]

Today is Holi-day (pun intended :D ) for Hindus/Sikhs around the world. Happy Holi everyone! :)

Holi is known as the Spring festival of colours and is pretty fun. I thought I'll post some info regarding this festival. The highlight of the festival is the sprinkling of colours and water on each other.

Among India's innumerable festivals, Holi ranks as the most colorful. It heralds the arrival of spring with the promise of good harvests and fertility and commemorates legends from Hindu mythology. Traditionally celebrated on the first day after the full moon in early March, the festival allows for the shedding of inhibitions and caste differences in a rush of spring fever. It is characterized best by the water and gulal, or colored powder, which are thrown upon one another in an exuberant welcome of the season of love.

Holi (होली), is a spring religious festival celebrated by Hindus. It is primarily observed in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and countries with large Indic diaspora populations, such as Suriname, Malaysia, Guyana, South Africa, Trinidad, United Kingdom, United States, Mauritius, and Fiji. In West Bengal and Orissa of India it is known as Dolyatra, or Basanta-Utsav.

The main day, Holi, also known as Dhuli Vandana in Sanskrit, also Dhulheti, Dhulandi or Dhulendi, is celebrated by people throwing coloured powder and coloured water at each other.

There are many Holi events in the US, and some of them are quite huge. Stanford holds the largest Holi festival in the bay area, and I would say its probably one of the best. They have thousands of pounds of colour...Music..dance...and food. There were around 5000 attendees last year..and the number is expected to reach around 6000 this year. All proceeds from this event go to a no-overhead charity aimed at educating poor children.

The 2011 Holi event is on the 3rd of April and those who are interested in attending it can check out the details here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/arcticpuppy/sets/72157623722861130/with/4476992195/

^^The link has the pics from the 2010 Holi.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=175240745854331&ref=ts
^^ Facebook page of the upcoming event.


I'll post a few of them here to illustrate the importance of colour.




photo credits:tibchris

[in_cog_ni_to]

1. Happy Holi! That looks like FUN!

:hi:

Happy Spring!

[Vehl]

3. To you too!

:)

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R

:thumbsup:

[AsahinaKimi]

4. Happy Holi day!

omedetou gozaimasu! おめでとうございます!

[Vehl]

6. Doumo Arigatou

Doumo Arigatou どうもありがとう!

[AsahinaKimi]

8. Dou Itashimashite!!!

どういたしまして!!

[Vehl]

9. mikka nandri!

மிக்க நன்றி! (thank you very much)

[malaise]

5. Have fun

We call it Phagwah in the Caribbean and it is celebrated in both Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago - it's actually a public holiday in Guyana.
Why do they only use pink in the Caribbean but all those colors in the US

[Vehl]

7. Cool!

I learned something new today. I didn't know that the Phagwah/Holi in the Caribbean only has the pink color. I wonder if it has anything to do with the region of India those who celibate it in Caribbean hailed from.

[myrna minx]

10. Looks like fun. K&R n/t

[mopinko]

11. iirc in india people do this naked.

not sure how universal it is, but pretty sure many do. i was india a couple years ago and came home the week before. we heard a lot about it from locals.

[Vehl]

12. never heard of it till now

I'm sure there might be some cases as you mentioned...but till now I've never heard of this. I would hazard a guess that this is probably limited to some particular region..and people and probably is minuscule compared to the rest of those who partake in Holi.

[mopinko]

16. nah, it's a big thing.

even tho it was a week away when we were there, we saw more than a couple people who had been celebrating early. everyone we talked to was excited that it was coming.

[Vehl]

18. wow interesting!

Which part/state of India was this? if you dont mind me asking.
I'm sure there are some really weird versions of some festivals in India.

The one's I've been to are usually categorized by people wearing white(cos then the splattered colours would show up better!) and not new(some of the paints used in India are not the ones which are easily taken off by washing!.lol) clothes.

[mopinko]

20. we were in mumbai, dehli, agra, and a place called pune

heard about it in most of those places. also something that my son, who is looking into becoming a buddhist monk, told us about before we left, hence our curiosity. don't remember where he heard about it. he is fascinated with all things india, and was very pissed that we didn't take him.
the early birds that we saw were indeed wearing white cloths. i wouldn't be surprised if they were able to get it out of the clothes, tho. those laundries where they beat the clothes are something else.

[Vehl]

21. cool!

Ive never been to Pune or agra, but as you son mentioned; I'm sure there is some place in India where people do what he mentioned. There are simply too many festivals, and variations to box them into easily defined categories, I guess.

As for the clothes, yeah..The inquisition some of the clothing undergo under the hands of a laundry-man would definitely get the colours out..but then again one has to choose between getting rid of the colours...or reducing the lifespan of the clothing to a fraction of their usual one :rofl:. It is a wonder that they survive all those beating at least once..let alone multiple times! haha

[mopinko]

22. it's a sight to see, that is for sure.

it was a really interesting trip, but it is a scary place to be. it is easy to see that chaos is a hair's breadth away at all times. everyone hangs by their finger nails it seems.
folks know how to party, tho, that's for sure. it was wedding season while we were there and those parades were amazing.

[Codeine]

13. I saw this recently on a show called An Idiot Abroad

on the Science Channel. It looked like pure joy. :)

[Vehl]

14. Ive seen that show too

Its a good show. The last episode I saw a few days ago, was the one about Brazil :)

[opiate69]

15. Happy Holi, Vehl! And thanks again for your help on that paper!

:pals:

[Vehl]

17. You are welcome :)

:pals:

[seabeyond]

19. in all those pictures? bee u tee full, smiles.... yea. thanks. nt