When is Holi in 2022: The festival of colours, the two-day extravaganza filled with colours, eatables, and joy, is an important festival and is celebrated with equal vigour across the country.
The festival signifies the victory of good over evil. The Holika Dahan is the first day of the festival, followed by the main event where people play with colours. This year, it will be more special as the grip of the Covid-19 pandemic is gradually losing, which aligns with the significance of the festival.
It also celebrates the beginning of a good spring harvest season. The Holi celebrations start on the evening of Purnima. It falls in the Hindu calendar month of Phalguna.
Holi 2022: Date
This year Holi will be observed on March 18, 2022. Holi is celebrated by Hindus all over. It is one of the biggest festivals on the Hindu calendar. It is also known as the festival of colours.
Last year, in 2021, Holi was observed on March 29.
Holi 2022: History
Holi finds its roots deep in Hindu mythology and originates from the tale of Hiranyakashyap, the demon king, and his pious son, Prahlad.
The father-son duo represented good and evil, the two polar opposites of a human being. Prahlad was a worshipper of Vishnu, which irked Hiranyakashyap.
He decided to incinerate Prahlad with the help of his sister, Holika, who was immune to fire. As Holika sat in the fire with Prahlad, the fire couldn’t affect Prahlad but engulfed Holika in flames. Holi glorifies this victory of a worshipper of Vishnu over the malevolent Holika and Hiranyakashyap.
Holi 2022: Significance
Holi also marks the arrival of the spring harvest season and the end of winter in the country. Holi is celebrated in the month of Phalguna of the Hindu calendar and the festivities start on the evening of the Purnima (Full Moon day).
On Holi, anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders, they all take part in the smearing of colours, dancing and singing and eating. People would even visit friends and families and share Holi delicacies, food and drinks. On this day, some would indulge in customary drinks like bhang (made from cannabis), which is intoxicating.
Festival of colours: Rituals
Rituals of the ancient festival of Holi are religiously followed every year with care and enthusiasm.
Holika 2022: Preparations
Days before the festival people start gathering wood for the lighting of the bonfire called Holika at the major crossroads of the city. This ensures that at the time of the actual celebration a huge pile of wood is collected.
Then on the eve of Holi, Holika Dahan takes place. Effigy of Holika, the devil minded sister of demon King Hiranyakashyap is placed in the wood and burnt. For, Holika tried to kill Hiranyakashyap’s son Prahlad, an ardent devotee of Lord Naarayana. The ritual symbolises the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of a true devotee.
Children also hurl abuses at Holika and pray pranks, as if they still try to chase away Dhundhi who once troubled little ones in the Kingdom of Prithu. Some people also take embers from the fire to their homes to rekindle their own domestic fires.
Next day, is of course the main day of Holi celebrations. The day is called Dhuleti and it is on this day that the actual play of colours take place. There is no tradition of holding puja and is meant for pure enjoyment.
The tradition of playing colours is particularly rampant in north India and even in that region, there can be no comparison to the Holi of Mathura and Vrindavan. In Maharashtra and Gujarat too Holi is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm and fun.
People take extreme delight in spraying colour water on each other with pichkaris or pouring buckets and buckets of it. Singing Bollywood Holi numbers and dancing on the beat of dholak is also a part of the tradition. Amidst all this activity people relish gujiya, mathri, malpuas and other traditional delicacies with great joy.
Drinks, specially thandai laced with bhang is also an intrinsic part of the festivity. Bhang helps to further enhance the spirit of the occasion but if taken in excess it might dampen it also. So caution should be taken while consuming it.
