Holi is the festival of colors. It marks the beginning of spring, and symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. It also celebrates the eternal love between Krishna and Radha, a Hindu God and Goddess couple. They are the Divine lovers. The celebration actually begins the day before Holi with Holika Dahan (see my post about this), and the lighting of a big bonfire. You can read more about the festival of Holi here.
On Holi, people, especially children, play with the colors. They throw colored powder on each other, shoot water guns full of colored water, and throw water balloons. They call it playing Holi. I was excited to celebrate Holi for the first time in Ganeshpuri! I could hear raucous drumming for awhile before I left the house. When I headed out to go the hill to visit my friends and go to temple, I discovered the source of the drumming. There was a group of boys at the little shop across the street. Two of the boys had drums. When they saw me, they all came running over. Two of them put color on my face. Then they told me to give them money, so I did!
That's the routine - you get color or you give color, and then you give money. It reminds me of trick or treating at Halloween. I headed down to my friend Vijaya's shop, Devi Ma. I got more color there.
There were several groups of kids (and some kids at heart) who came by with drums and color. We handed out lots of money. And got more color!
I wasn't sure if it would be appropriate for me to go to noon Arti at the temple. I was quite a sight. Vijaya assured me that it would be fine, so off I went. I did notice that nobody else in the temple had as much color on them as I did. And I noticed that most people laughed when they saw me, and then wished me a happy Holi. It was a very happy Holi!
I like how playful the throwing colors tradition is, so childlike and so good for the adult soul in particular!
Great holiday, lots of fun! In the Russian tradition there is also a holiday around this time part of which is to celebrate the end of winter, start of spring. And it also includes the ritual around a fire . I always love to find similarities between celebrations in various traditions.
Wow, you ARE brave to go to the temple with such a multi-colored face! I would feel too self-conscious