HindiLearner News

Date: 11-12 Mar 2009
Reason: Spring festival of color
Learn more about Holi festival at: http://www.hindilearner.com/holi.html

It’s March.

It’s springtime.

It’s Holi!

The time to get drenched in a riot of colours, indulge in festivities and make merry with your loved ones.

Wish you a Happy Holi

Holi is one of the main Hindu festivals, and is celebrated on the last day of Falgun month which marks the end of winter season in India.

Originally a festival to celebrate good harvests and fertility of the land, Holi is now a symbolic commemoration of a legend from Hindu mythology.

While Holi is quite popular and celebrated all over India, it has some regional names too. Some of the regional names are:

* Rang-panchami in Maharastra
* Lathi-maar Holi in Barsaana (Mathura, UP)
* Dulandi Holi in Haryana
* Hola Mohalla in Punjab
* Phagawa in Bihar
* Shingo in Goa
* Kaman Pandigai in TamilNadu
* Basant Utsav/ Dol Purnima in West Bengal

Traditionally, mothers used to make new clothes for their married daughters on the occassion of Holi, while mother-in-law gave travel money to their daughter-in-law.

Sons-in-laws are invited by the bride’s family for a luxurious meal, after which it is customary to gift them crisp notes of any denomination.

Gujjia, papri and kanji vade are special food items that are exclusively made for this festival.

BTW, do you know what holodomor means?
If not, find it out now!

Diwali falls just after monsoons are over in Indian region. It is a opportune time to clean up our houses and surroundings. This is a major task undertaken by all.

As in case of all festivals, wearing traditional outfits adds to the festival spirit. Such outfits can be purchased from most Indian stores.

Sweets and confectioneries of different varieties are next important item to be purchased. It’s a tradition to gift sweets-packets to near and dear ones during this festival.

Diwali – the festival of lights – can not be complete without elaborate arrangements for lighting our places. So we shop for kandeels, earthen diyas, wax candles and fireworks of various kinds – rockets, sprinklers, chakras etc.

Kandeels – lantern made of wooden framework covered with color papers or colored glossy papers – are kept afloat high in front of the houses from the first day of month of Diwali. Kandeels are traditionally built in a crystal shape with tails at the bottom (as in the card sketch above). In recent times, creativity has given way to different shapes such as stars, globes and airplanes. Opaque papers cut into a complex design give more beauty to Kandeels by blocking the light emerging out.

Hindus in earlier days set Kandeels afloat high, a gesture to invite the spirits of their ancestors moving around to come back home and be with them during the festival time. Hence the name AkashaDeepa (lantern of the sky).

A tradition of placing bets (or call it a minor form of gambling) is also followed apparently for fun but indirectly to instill a sense of temporary nature of all our material possessions. This cultural tradition enables one to cope up with financial setbacks with calm and courage.

After fun and festivities, it’s time to get back to work with renewed vigor and a resolve to perform better which gets manifested in cleaning, maintenance and repair of tools of profession by most Indians.