Happy Holi 2018! Today we celebrate the arrival of spring and the end of winter with the Hindu Festival of Colors known as Holi. Today, celebrants in India and across the world will participate in a day of "throwing colors" at each other in celebration of the day.
Like the Jewish Purim holiday before it, Holi begins the night before, since the Hindu calendar, like the Hebrew calendar, begins days on the night before. The evening beginning Holi is called Purnima, which means full Moon day.
While Holi has become increasingly secularized, the original religious underpinnings behind the holiday memorialize the way that Holika, the sister of the demon king Hiranyakashipu, was killed in a fire, which symbolizes the struggle of good over evil. The night before the color festival of Holi, Hindus hold bonfires to symbolize this cleansing of bad thoughts.
On the day that has been associated as "Holi," Indians and non-Indians throw colored powder (cornstarch powder mixed with food coloring and other variants) at each other to celebrate. However, there are other ways to make the powders, some less environmentally friendly, which has become a concern, reports the India Environment Portal.
In more recent years, Holi has spread across the world, including the large Indian immigrant populations in Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Mauritius, and Fiji. Here, the practice of Holi has been excitedly adopted by non-Hindu celebrants.
See funny memes about today here:
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Happy Holi!
