Holi History: Things You need to Know About Holi Festival: Holi is a spring festival also known as the festival of colours or the festival of love. It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well as people of other communities outside Asia. It is celebrated on the full moon day falling in the month of Phalguna (Feb-Mar). This year Holi falls on 6th March. Various colors and water are thrown on each other, amidst loud music, drums etc are used to celebrate Holi. People celebrate this festival but many of them don’t know why we Celebrate Holi Festival? What is the History behind celebrating this festival? Here in this article we are sharing you the History of Holi Festival.

History of Holi:

Hiranyakashipu was a king in ancient India who was like a demon. He wanted to take revenge for the death of his younger brother who was killed by Lord Vishnu. So to gain power, the king prayed for years. He was finally granted a boon. But with this Hiranyakashipu started considering himself  God and asked his people to worship him like God. The cruel king has a young son named Prahalad, who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Prahalad had never obeyed his father’s order and kept on worshiping Lord Vishnu.

The King was so hard hearted and decided to kill his own son, because he refused to worship him. He asked his sister ‘Holika’, who was immune to fire, to sit on a pyre of fire with Prahalad in her lap. Their plan was to burn Prahalad. But their plan did not go through as Prahalad who was reciting the name of Lord Vishnu throughout was safe, but Holika got burnt to ashes. The defeat of Holika signifies the burning of all that is bad.

After this, Lord Vishnu killed Hiranyakashipu. But it is actually the death of Holika that is associated with Holi. Because of this, in some states of India like Bihar , a pyre in the form of bonfire is lit on the day before Holi day to remember the death of evil.

Colors become part of Holi Festival:

But how did colors become part of Holi? This dates back to the period of Lord Krishna (reincarnation of Lord Vishnu. It is believed that Lord Krishna used to celebrate holi with colors and hence popularized the same. He used to play holi with his friends at Vrindavan and Gokul. They used to play pranks all across the village and thus made this a community event.

That is why till date Holi celebrations at Vrindavan are unmatched. Holi is a spring festival to say goodbye to winters. In some parts the celebrations are also associated with spring harvest. Farmers after seeing their stores being refilled with new crops celebrate Holi as a part of their happiness. Because of this, Holi is also known as ‘Vasant Mahotsava’ and ‘Kama Mahotsava’.

Earlier, Holi colors used to be made from flowers of ‘tesu’ or ‘palash’ tree and known as gulal. The colors used to be very good for skin as no chemicals were used to make these. But amidst of all definitions of festivals, the definition of colors for sure have changed with time. Today people have started using harsh colors made from chemicals. Even fast colors are used to play Holi, which are bad and that is why many people avoid celebrating this festival. We should enjoy this age old festival with the true spirit of festivity.

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