Holi
| Holi | |
|---|---|
| Also called | Festival of colours |
| Observed by | Hindus, and others |
| Type | Religious, cultural, spring festival |
| Significance |
|
| Celebrations | Night before Holi: Holika Dahana or Kama Dahana On Holi: Playing with coloured powder and water, dancing, singing, greetings, festival delicacies |
| Date | Phalguna Purnima |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Hola Mohalla, Shigmo and Yaosang |
| Explanatory note on Hindu festival dates | |
|---|---|
The Hindu calendar is lunisolar but most festival dates are specified using the lunar portion of the calendar. A lunar day is uniquely identified by three calendar elements: māsa (lunar month), pakṣa (lunar fortnight) and tithi (lunar day).
Furthermore, when specifying the masa, one of two traditions are applicable, viz. amānta / pūrṇimānta. If a festival falls in the waning phase of the moon, these two traditions identify the same lunar day as falling in two different (but successive) masa. A lunar year is shorter than a solar year by about eleven days. As a result, most Hindu festivals occur on different days in successive years on the Gregorian calendar. | |
| Part of a series on |
| Hinduism |
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Holi (IPA: ['hoːli:, hoːɭiː]) is a major Hindu festival of colours, love and spring. It celebrates the love between the deities Radha and Krishna. Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil, as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu. Holi originated in ancient Indian subcontinent and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world.
Holi also celebrates the arrival of spring in India and Nepal, the end of winter, and the blossoming of love. It is also an invocation for a good spring harvest season. It lasts for a night and a day, starting on the evening of the Purnima (full moon day) falling on the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna, which falls around the middle of March in the Gregorian calendar.