As the sun falls down seeping into the horizon, casting hues of radiant orange and soft pink across the open sky, the streets of many cities awaken with energy, music, laughter, and the dazzling sparks of color that indicate the arrival of Holi, the festival of colors, love, and spring.
As of the 21st century, the festival Holi has immigrated from its origin country, India, to countries all across the world. On that note, with a popular festival being celebrated all over the globe, coming from such a culture rich and vivacious country, it is important to put its origins and background into the spotlight.
“Holi is a holiday I look forward to as it combines the fun of throwing colors on my friends to learning more about the virtues of life,” said Arnav Surapaneni, a sophomore at BWHS.
Holi mainly celebrates the coming of Spring, however, because it is such a vast and popular holiday, it has many variants for why it is celebrated. For many, Holi commemorates the strong love between the Hindu deities Radha and Krishna. As a result of this, the holiday can also be perceived as a festival where we celebrate the joy of love. Holi can also signify the cliche of good and evil, as the festival also celebrates the victory of Vishnu, a hindu deity, over Hiranyakashipu, a deity king of the Asuras (power seeking demons) in the Puranas (hindu literature).
Although this festival largely carries Hindu scripture and beliefs, it is important to take into account the lessons you can learn from this holiday and why it is important. The aspect of love is widely appreciated all around the world, however, the only significant holiday we have is Valentine’s Day. Even with that, Valentine’s Day mainly commemorates the celebration of relationships. Holi celebrates the love in human nature itself. That is one of the magnificent aspects about this holiday. The appreciation of oneself and the world around them.
“For me, Holi is a time to reconnect with loved ones, to mend broken relationships, and to let go of past grievances,” said Resha Donepudi, a sophomore at BWHS.
One of the most popular reasons why people celebrate Holi is for the start of spring. Although this reason may not seem that complex, it is actually very eye opening as it brings up new insights of events in our life that many just ignore or even don’t notice. According to World Bank, India is the second largest producer of rice and wheat in the world. This fact itself single handedly demonstrates how India revolves on good crop and good harvest to thrive. That is exactly why many people, especially farmers, celebrate Holi. It is the celebration of the turnpoint from a cold and dry winter, to a warm and prosperous summer. It signifies that farmers are going to have a good harvest, and will be able to feed the world nutritious and copious amounts of food. Not only is it a celebration of good virtue, but it is a celebration for the basis of an orderly society.
“From a very young age, I was taught that Holi celebrates more than just spring, but also our farmers, who are very important,” said Maanya Nandamuri, a sophomore at BWHS.
In the final analysis, Holi is such a multiplex festival which can be celebrated by people of any origin. Its history is transcribed into morals and virtue making it a very thoughtful festival. From people smearing each other with colors, the background of this celebration teaches us about love in its original form, the love of appreciation. Although this festival is filled with different rituals, customs, and values, what unites them all is simply the love and spirit of spending fun time with your loved ones, and of course, the colors.
