Holi in Uttar Pradesh
The
Colorful Event
The most colorful festival of India, Holi, is celebrated to mark the
begining of spring season. During the month of March, on Phalgun
Purnima, the festival is celebratd with heavy enthusiasm. Though the
festival is observed in whole India, Uttar Pradesh is most enthusiastic
about Holi. As per legends, evil Holika (who was blessed that she could
not be burnt by fire) tried to kill her religious nephew, Prahalad, by
taking him in a fire. Prahalad got saved from fire, but Holika died. The
festival is celebrated to mark the burning of self-conceit, selfishness,
greed, lust, hatred and all the undesirable demoniac tendencies,
propensities, thoughts and behaviours.
The festival starts at midnight, when a bon fire is made to mark death
of Holika. Next day celebrations starts from coloring people of all age
groups by wet and dry colors. The day celebrations starts from morning
and groups of people flock to friends, relatives and other native's
places. Its impossible to identify any particular person from the group
of people, due to heavily painted face and dress. This is followed by
sumptous food, specially with sweet dish like Ghujhiya. Evening is the
time when people dress up in there best and go to meet relatives and
friends. Holi has a traditional significance of social harmony between
the various classes of society. It is the day when all classes of people
are free to draw all parts of society into a celebration. The
celebrations of holi festival in india are usually carried out on people
of different class on each other, thus representing a time for breaking
down barriers.
Holi in Different Cities
Holi, a unique kind of festival, has variants in celebration across the
state. All the major cities have special ways of celebrating the Holi.
Some of them are:
Braj Holi
In Braj area, celebrations start a week earlier than rest of India. Men
from Nandagaon (Krishna's village) raid Barsana (Radha's village) to
raise a flag over Shri Radhikaji temple. They receive a thunderous
welcome as the women of Barsana greet them with long wooden sticks. The
men are soundly beaten as they attempt to rush through town to reach
Shri Radhikaji's temple. Men are well padded as they are not allowed to
retaliate. In this mock battle the men try their best not to be
captured. The only weapon men have with them are the waterguns, by which
they drench the ladies and distract them. The colors used in whole
procession are totally natural and are made 1 month before Holi.
Varanasi Holi
The Varanasi Holi is altogether different from Braj Holi, except the
color factor. The Holi celebrations continue for as long as 10 days
across the city. The ghats of Varanasi are completely covered with
colors and the water in river Ganges also gets heavily colored. People
move in groups from one localty to other, taking in more people and
expanding the group. Music, dance and food are a must in these groups.
The evenings are eventful, with variuos events taking place on Ghats.
Thandai, a milk preparation, with Bhaang (Cannabis leaves) is consumed
to get more enthusiastic.
Kanpur Holi
Holi in Kanpur is celebrated for 7 days. The tradition of celebrating
Holi for seven days is relatively new. During the British rule in India,
several freedom fighters were arrested on grounds of celebrating Holi,
which involved masses. They were freed after Holi. In a rage over the
issue, the freedom fighters celebrated Holi for seven days and organised
a grand fair known as Ganga Mela. Still Ganga Mela is celebrated in the
city and is considered more auspicious than Holi.
Lucknow Holi
Holi in Lucknow reflects the Nawab's culture and ettiquetes. Though the
celebrations involve wet colors, but dry colors, made from natural
resources are used more. Gulal and natural colors are used in place of
chemical colors. People are not roughly colored, but gently, so that
other person should not gets irritated.
Holi in other cities like Allahabad, Gorakhpur and Jhansi involve
almost similar celebrations, but the local customs is what makes them
differ from each other.
Religious and Cultural Importance
The festival of Holi falls on Purnima of Phalgun. The day is important
for Hindus for following reasons
1. It was on this day that Lord Shiva opened his third eye and reduced
Kamadeva (the god of love) to ashes.
2. It was on this day that Holika, the sister of the demon king
Hiranyakasyap, who tried to kill the child devotee Prahlad by taking him
on her lap and sitting on a pyre of wood which was set ablaze. Holika
was burnt to ashes while Prahlad came out safe.
3. It was on this day that an ogress called Dhundhi, who was troubling
the children in the kingdom of Prthu was made to run away for life, by
the shouts and pranks of the mischievous boys. Though she had secured
several boons that made her almost invincible, this - noise, shouts,
abuses and pranks of boys - was a chink in her armour due to a curse of
Lord Shiva
