Did We Miss Out in the Meaning of Holi?

Burn your ego, expectations and everything in the fire of Holi and enjoy the festival. Happy Holi!

Every year, one after the other this Hindu spring festival Holi passes by and if your just like ‘ME’ you would just associate this festival as that as one of water balloons and coloured powder! Yes! That's all I ever thought it was throughout my childhood for years altogether, until this feeling of curiosity started to ring in harder than the desire to play. That's when I knew I just had to stop and just understand why it was being celebrated, its history and why it continued to be celebrated.  

 So, my deep exploration into this topic began and wasn't a small one. It wasn't India that was celebrating Holi I found out that other parts of the world were also too! Now that was something really interesting! Beyond the Indian diaspora, which meant including Nepal, South Asia, Jamaica, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, South Africa, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Mauritius, the United States, Canada, and Fiji. Now this was baffling to me! I couldn't believe that this festival was so spread out.

 It even was spread to parts of North America and Europe as well. It is even celebrated in Pakistan (community events) – Karachi, Sindh, Hyderabad, Hazara, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi. This ‘so called’ festival is a festival of love, colours and frolic. It was definitely an indication of the end of winter and the beginning of spring season – the Hindu religious festival that has also become quite popular with many non-Hindus as well.

It is known to be a festival of colours, a festival of love and also a festival of spring. It is also one where people of all races and religions participate and enjoy in the celebrations. This occasion is a significant occasion to rid oneself of past errors and end conflicts by meeting others, a day to forgive and forget.
  

It is interesting to take note that it is also known as Phakuwa (Tamil), Phagwah (Assamese), Festival of Colours., or Dola jātra (Odia: in Odisha, and as Dol Jatra (Assamese or Basanto utsav ("spring festival") in West Bengal and Assam. These celebrations and customs vary across different areas of India. 

Besides signifying the beginning of spring, it also celebrates agriculture – commemorating good spring harvests as well as harvest land; a time to bid departure to the cold winter. It is also a very important time to reset and renew ruptured relationships; end conflicts no matter how hard that may be and end the accumulated emotional impurities and baggage from the past.  It has inspired a number of social events (charity), music festivals and electronic music festivals.  

Why Colour? Firstly, it is and has been a tradition to wear white clothes on this day, so that by the end of the day they will be dirty –through the joy and excitement of throwing colour and water as well as grooving to music.  

It is a time when colours speak LOUDER than words. This festive occasion uses a lot of colour, which is symbolic of a change in weather. It is believed to cause cold and viral fever. However, the playful nature of tossing colours upon each other KumKum (turmeric is dried and powdered with a bit of slaked lime), Mehndi (Myrtle)”, Indigo plant, Beetroot plant, fruits of amla  (Indian Gooseberry) and vegetable carbon (charcoal) offer gray to black colours. Neem (Indian lilac), Bilva (Bilwa) and Haldi (turmeric powder) are believed to have medicinal herbs in them and are prescribed by Ayurvedic doctors.  

However, this was the past. In our current times there has been a fast paced availability of commercial availability of attractive pigments; slowly replacing natural colours synthetic colours. This has resulted in causing mild to severe symptoms of skin irritation and inflammation. However one of the most prominent features of Holi is the Holi Pooja that takes place a day prior before the Holi festival. This is known as Holika Dahan. 

No pooja is performed on the day of Holi. The day prior is the day when a bonfire is lit to celebrate the victory of good over evil. Another feature of this festival is the LOUD PEPPY MUSIC being heard all across the neighbourhood! There will always be this insanely happy ‘balam-pichkari’ vibe across the city. From ‘Balam  Pichkari (Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani (2013))’ to ‘Rang Barse’ there is a whole playlist of Holi songs to groove to as you celebrate the day! Anu Malik and Sunidhi’s voice are on the most familiar voices you fill fear!

However what does this mean for business and stocks and shares?

One thing is for sure and that is that for social media companies it's a great time for them to work hard on churning out a great social media brand for their company. Urban Tree, Asian Paints, Indigo, Cornetto, Hike, Flipkart, Aircel, Tata, Docomo, Pepsi, Reebok India, Mentos, Zomato India, Vanish, Toppr.com, All India Radio News, etc.

  While almost every single year every bank, office, school, college, office, bank government office and even private office remains open; this year the country’s equity markets will remain closed. The Indian equity, forex, debt and commodity markets are closed on Thursday on account of Holi.  It’s an indication of meeting others, to forgive others and to forget the past. However did you know that there is a symbolic legend as to why Holi is celebrated as the festival of colours in honour of the Hindu God Vishnu and his follower Prahlada?  

The Holika bonfire, which people lit before Holi on the eve of Holi, signified the celebration of good over evil. Colour is smeared all over each other with of course gulal. Water is thrown on each other and balloons are commonly used and ‘pichkari’ are also some commonly used items. Holi can never be ‘COMPLETE’ without snacks and Thandai and popular Holi sweets such as Ladoo, Gujiya, Burfi and Imarti.

 Dry fruits, Holi gifts are also exchanged. Holi has a long and historical background that it’s hard to just hard to practically break ties and STOP this TRADITIONAL festival. It will and always remains a festival that will offer us a beacon of hope for reuniting with family, friends and dear ones. It's an occasion of colour where they can add in hues from the monotonous life that they may be leading and usher in a great amount of enthusiasm into it.

 Holi is the day to express love with colours. It is a time to show affection. All the colours that are on you are of love! #RoopDurgapal