| Holi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Observed by | Hindus,[1] Jains,[2][3] and others[4] |
| Type | Religious, cultural, spring festival |
| Significance |
|
| Celebrations | Night before Holi: Holika Dahan or Kama Dahan On Holi: Playing with coloured powder and water, dancing, greetings, festival delicacies[5] |
| Date | Phalguna Purnima |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Hola Mohalla, Shigmo and Yaosang |
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. | |
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| Hinduism |
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Holi (Hindi pronunciation: ['hoːli:]) is a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love, and Spring.[1][6][7][8] It celebrates the eternal and divine love of the deities Radha and Krishna.[9][10] Additionally, the day signifies the triumph of good over evil,[11][12] as it commemorates the victory of Vishnu as Narasimha over Hiranyakashipu.[13][14] Holi originated and is predominantly celebrated in the Indian subcontinent, but has also spread to other regions of Asia and parts of the Western world through the Indian diaspora.[7][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]
Holi also celebrates the arrival of spring in India, the end of winter, and the blossoming of love.[15][22] It is also an invocation for a good spring harvest season.[15][22] 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.
- ^ a b The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) ISBN 0-19-861263-X p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
wiley42was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
bal269was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
wpnonhinduswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
htwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "What is Holi?". BBC Bitesize. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
- ^ a b Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World Religions, Volume 1, ISBN 978-1851099801, p. 212
- ^ McKim Marriott (2006). John Stratton Hawley and Vasudha Narayanan (ed.). The Life of Hinduism. University of California Press. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-520-24914-1., Quote: "Holi, he said with a beatific sigh, is the Festival of Love!"
- ^ Schwartz, Susan L. (6 October 2004). Rasa: Performing the Divine in India. Columbia University Press. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-231-13145-2.
- ^ R Deepta, A.K. Ramanujan's ‘Mythologies’ Poems: An Analysis, Points of View, Volume XIV, Number 1, Summer 2007, pp. 74–81
- ^ What Is Hinduism?. Himalayan Academy Publications. 2007. p. 230. ISBN 978-1-934145-27-2.
- ^ "Festivals for Spring: Holi and Basant Kite Festival: Holi".
Holi celebrates love, forgiveness, and triumph of good over evil
- ^ David N. Lorenzen (1996). Praises to a Formless God: Nirguni Texts from North India. State University of New York Press. pp. 22–31. ISBN 978-0-7914-2805-4.
- ^ Vittorio Roveda (2005). Images of the Gods: Khmer Mythology in Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. River Books. p. 70. ISBN 978-974-9863-03-9.;
Sunil Kothari; Avinash Pasricha (2001). Kuchipudi. Abhinav. pp. 66–67. ISBN 978-81-7017-359-5. - ^ a b c Ebeling, Karin (10), Holi, an Indian Festival, and its Reflection in English Media; Die Ordnung des Standard und die Differenzierung der Diskurse: Akten des 41. Linguistischen Kolloquiums in Mannheim 2006, 1, 107, ISBN 978-3631599174
- ^ Amber Wilson (2004). Jamaica: The people. Crabtree Publishing Company. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-7787-9331-1.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
wsj-holifightwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Holi Festivals Spread Far From India The Wall Street Journal (2013)
- ^ Holi Festival of Colours Visit Berlin, Germany (2012)
- ^ Holi 2023 Date, Rituals, and Significance
- ^ Holi Hindu Festival
- ^ a b Wendy Doniger (Editor), Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, 2000, ISBN 978-0877790440, Merriam-Webster, p. 455