Holi: The Festival of Colors

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Holi is a colorful and most fun-filled festival which is celebrated in the month of March, usually in the latter half of the month.Great excitement can be seen in people when it is actually the time for playing with colors. Shops and offices remain closed for the day and people get all the time to get crazy and wacky. Bright colors of gulal and abeer fill the air and people take turns in pouring color water over each other. Children take special delight  in spraying colors on one another with their pichkaris and throwing water balloons. Women  and senior citizen form groups and move in colonies applying colors and exchanging greetings. Everyone looks the same when Holi is in full swing, color, class and religion are wiped away by the colors of Holi. For this moment, all people are equal. This is especially important for India, which still follows the caste system, so Holi festival is a day to break free from your caste. People gather wood to make large bonfires that are lit the night before Holi ,fires are lit on the eve of Holi to burn the Witch of Winter known as Holika Dahan. Holika was a demon in Hinduism who was burned to death by Vishnu. The fires burn into the night and people are out dancing and celebrating to the wee hours of the morning.

 Songs, dance on the rhythm of dholak and mouthwatering Holi delicacies are the other highlights of the day. Parties are often organized where people dance to music and greet each other with colors. The festival signifies the victory good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships.
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 which remains the same throughout the country and even across the globe, wherever it is celebrated.

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