HOLI - The Festival Of Colours , People Engagments And Togetherness

HOLI

 Holi is one of the major festivals of Hindus. It is celebrated in South Asian countries, especially in India. Hiranyakashyap wanted to kill his son, so he called his sister, Holika. She had a magic robe. This robe had the power to save the wearer from burning in fire. Hiranyakashyap ordered his sister to sit on a burning fire along with Prahlad. He thought that his sister would not be harmed by the fire of the magic robe and Prahlad would be burnt to death. But the result was the opposite to what the evil demon king planned.

Thus Prahlad came out of the burning fire safely and Holika was burnt to death. and holi is the festival of collour It is celebrated with colors to mark the victory of virtue and goodness over evil.

The festival is celebrated for five days. The 5th day, Rang Panchami, marks the closing day of the Holi festival.

People are seen with different varieties of colors on Holi. They put colors on each other, sing, dance. They worship Lord Krishna and put colors on his idol.

Families gather together and Parvi the whole day

Holi is coming. Play it safely

Continuing the tradition of smearing colour on the faces of friends and throwing coloured water in a playful manner on guests is a hallmark of the Indian Festival Holi. Historically, Holi, the festival of bright and cheerful colours, used to be played with natural dyes made from henna leaves, margosa leaves, marigold flowers, turmeric, kumkum and Gulal made from red sandalwood powder etc. With changing times, chemical dyes and synthetic colours entered into the market. These may contain dangerous toxins that have harmful effect on the human body. Therefore, one has to be careful while using the colours for playing holi; most of the modern colours are in fact chemical dyes and can cause skin allergies. Some of the skin problems that could occur are itching, rashes, dryness and irritation. Eyes are extremely vulnerable and need to be protected since sometimes; these harmful colours come in contact with eyes resulting in eye-infection etc. Why don’t we all start using herbal colours made up of natural substances? We should spread the message of not using chemical colours having harmful substances such as lead and mercury etc. This is the first step of risk avoidance to have a vibrant and safe holi. One more aspect of danger is that the floor becomes slippery due to playing with water colours. So while playing holi, avoid running or jumping on wet floors as one may get injured due to slippery floors spoiling the mood of the day. The second step is minimise risk by applying oil on the skin and hair before playing holi. This way, the dyes will not catch hold on to the body easily. Using oil may help to minimise the side effects, even if some of the colours used by friends happen to be chemical colours. And finally, one should never force any one to play holi against their will. Remember, it is all about taking a little care and exercising due caution even while enjoying the Holi with your near and dear ones.