Holi 2019 is around the corner and celebrations have already begun across different Indian states. At places like Mathura and Barsana, the Holi celebrations, that have been going on for a few days now, will conclude on Thursday, 21 March.
Residents, especially children, particularly enjoy the festival as they throw colour filled balloons at other people, and use water guns (pichkaris) to drench them. Delicacies like gujiya, malpuas, mathri, puran poli, dahi badas etc, are also savoured with glasses of thandai on this day.
While in some states there is a tradition of breaking a pot filled with buttermilk on the eve of Holi, in others, women sing folk songs and throw buckets of coloured water at others.
Sweets are exchanged and various cultural events are also organised on the day of Holi.
Braj Ki Holi
Laden with innumerable colours, mouth-watering food, age-old traditions and unrestrained fun, Braj ki Holi is celebrated with great zeal and fervour in Mathura and Vrindavan.
A colourful procession takes place through the streets of Mathura after the Holi festivities in Vrindavan get over. Starting from Vishram Ghat, the procession stops at Holi Gate. Vehicles decorated with flowers, with kids impersonating Radha-Krishna are the key attractions of the procession.
Dulandi Holi
Dulandi Holi is played in Haryana where people form a human pyramid to break the pot of buttermilk hung high in the street.
On this day, all the bhabhis (brother’s wife) beat their devars. The gesture is symbolic of the punishment the younger brothers gets for teasing his brothers’ wife.
Rangpanchami
Rangpanchami is commonly celebrated in the state of Maharashtra where people play with colours on the fifth day. Popular among fishermen, the festival is also known as Shimga or Shimgo in Maharashtra.
Basant Utsav
Holi is celebrated as Basant Utsav in West Bengal. Vasantotsav, the traditional Spring Festival that was started by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, is organised to this date and people chant hymns and dance their heart out at Shantiniketan in Bengal.
Lathmaar Holi
Lathmaar Holi is popular in Nandgaon, the birthplace of Lord Krishna; and Barsana, the birth place of Krishna's beloved Radha.
Men from Nandgaon play a different type of Holi with the women from Barsana as they try to evade the women carrying laths (long wooden sticks). Those who get beaten up are not supposed to retaliate and are instead made to wear female attire and dance in public.
Phagu Purnima
Holi is popularly celebrated as Phagu Purnima in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The festival gets its name from Phagu (which literally translates to the sacred red powder) and Purnima (the full moon day).
Holika dahan or the 'Samvatsar Dahan' is performed on this day to burn the evil out and mark the beginning of a New Year.
(With inputs from holifestival.org)
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