Rang Barse

Holi festival is the festival of colours and waters. I recall celebrating this festival with my building, society friends and relatives by throwing colour and water on each other since my childhood days. This festival comes in the spring season and brings alive the season & festivity of love. In different parts of the country, we celebrated the Holi festival with different traditions. Colour and water are thrown as people of all age groups get together to celebrate the festival which is associated with family, relatives & friends which brings along a lot of fun and joy. All the people forget their troubles and indulge in this festival to celebrate brotherhood. In other words, we forget our past enmities and get into the festival spirit to celebrate and start our ahead journey of renewing our friendship.

The story behind this festivity goes like there was a devil king named Hiranyakashyap. He had a son named Prahlad, and a sister called Holika. It is believed that the devil king had the blessings of Lord Brahma. This blessing meant no man, animal or weapon could kill him. This blessing turned into a curse for him as he became very arrogant. He ordered his kingdom to worship him instead of God, not sparing his own son. Following this, all the people began worshipping him except for his son, Prahlad. Prahlad refused to worship his father instead of God, as he was a staunch believer of God Vishnu. Upon seeing his disobedience, the devil king planned with his sister to kill Prahlad. He made her sit in the fire with his son on the lap, where Holika got burned and Prahlad came out safely. This showed he was protected by his God Vishnu because of his devotion. Thus, people started celebrating Holi as the victory of good over evil. One day before Holi, people conduct a ritual called ‘Holika Dahan’. In this ritual, people pile heaps of wood in public areas to burn. It symbolizes the burning of evil powers revising the story of Holika and King Hiranyakashyap. We all gather around the Holika to seek blessings and offer our devotion to God Vishnu. Holi spreads love and brotherhood. It brings harmony and happiness in the country. Holi symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. This colourful festival unites people and removes all sorts of negativity from our life