The LA Times has an article on a Holi festival that took place in southern California last weekend:
About 150 people from Southern California gathered Saturday at Arcadia Park to celebrate Holi — the Pan-Indian “festival of colors,” a holiday celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and some Muslims that rejoices in the coming of spring and the triumph of good over evil. It is considered a major Hindu festival.
According to whom? I’m a Southie, and as far as I know, playfully throwing water balloons and colored powder at one another isn’t really our thing.
The reporter also gives a run-down on the history of Holi:
One version of the tale tells of Prehlad’s father, Hiranyakshipu, an evil man who wanted Prehlad to worship him, not the Hindu god Vishnu. After many attempts to change his son’s mind, Hiranyakshipu decides to burn him to death, and his aunt, Holika, is to help. In the end, Holika is burned to death and Prehlad is saved.
A woman is burned alive to save her nephew — what a wonderful reason to celebrate!
Another story is about the Hindu god Krishna, who is said to have lived 5,000 years ago. He enjoyed dalliances with the milkmaids, especially Radha. On Holi, Krishna asked his mother why his skin was darker than Radha’s. His mother told him to rub paint on her. She retaliated and eventually, all the villagers joined in. Since then, Holi has also been celebrated with colors.
I always thought Holi had little religious significance and had more to do with celebrating the beginning of spring and the harvest. But maybe that’s just the Chicago grad in me talking. In any case, Professor Vinay Lal of UCLA has his explanation of Holi:
Holi is something anybody can take part in because you do not need anything, just water and color. You can go to the home of an upper-caste person and throw water at them and rub color on them. But the following day, everything reverts back to normal.
So it’s really all about having a day to whoop some upper-caste ass. On a lighter note, the last part of the article made me smile:
In the United States, celebrants said it was a good day to take time off from hectic days of work, relax with friends and family and to renew friendships. “If you are on bad terms with someone, you don’t need to speak words to them,” said Sonia Anand, 35, of Arcadia. “Sometimes the words hold you back, and all you need is some color and a hug.”
Sounds more like the Holi I know.
uhh yeah, whatever. I got through half the day in Madurai (Tamil Nadu) not knowing it was Holi before SMSes started arriving from Delhi, Bombay, and northie friends in the States: “Happy Holi!” And if those people hadn’t told me, I still wouldn’t have known it was Holi until reading this post.
I tried it once. Vastly overrated. There always seems to be that one punk who goes for the ears, eyes, and nose…
Oh come on. Don’t be such a p*ssy^.
^prissy
And I’d say you were right. The mythology of the Holika story is quite complicated, the subtext I see here is – God is omnipotent, theistic piety should trump filial piety, hubristic mortals always meet a sorry end, the feminine spirit can counter even the most destructive natural elements, etc. Or maybe I’m way out on a limb.
But there’s no denying that Holi, even if mainly in the North, has both an orgiastic element and an egalitarian element – on that one day, all kinds of hierarchies you can think of – age-based, economic or social status-based, gender-based – do seem to crumble. There is also a lot of, well, hooliganism. Perhaps you can go to an upper-caste person’s house too, if they lived in the city – I’m not so sure about the villages.
And I always thought the same about Easter…
Is it fun or isn’t it fun? (And does bhaang help?) I like messes and could tell y’all a story involving twelve gallons of ramen noodles… so I would love to have the chance to play with color and water. Unfortunately it wasn’t celebrated in my neck of the woods.
According to whom? I’m a Southie, and as far as I know, playfully throwing water balloons and colored powder at one another isn’t really our thing. It is catching on somewhat in the South too, but yes, it is mostly celebrated in the North. It originated as a Hindu festival, so I think the LA Times is correct. Perhaps not pan-Indian, as you point out.
A woman is burned alive to save her nephew — what a wonderful reason to celebrate! ?
True, but Holi is actually more like St Patrick’s Day, in my opinion. Complete with the shamrock, the leprechaun and the blarney and all the green – plus the bhaang, which subs for the beer.
brown man,
How do you know who’s an abcd and who isn’t?
I’ve had fun without getting high on Holi/end “Holi: My Anti Drug”
Because being Hindu-theist is enough of an acid trip for me! And yeah, I’m such a self centered North-Mid-Western-Mumbai (Um, I speak Gujarati….)-ite I was shocked when a Bangalore-based friend of mine expressed disgust at “that messy Holi.” And that was yet another day where I learned the valuable lesson of how being “Indian” isn’t such a uniform practice.
I partcipated in Easter Egg hunts for the free chocolate and I participated in our messy suburban American Holi festivals (sans the caste conscious or bhang happy) so I could see what my brother and uncles looked like as Smurfs. Hi-larious, that’s how!
Haha, but you definitely have a point with “A woman is burned alive to save her nephew — what a wonderful reason to celebrate!” Naina. That was the story we were told when we were wide eyed youngsters who’d buy anything as long as it involved a multi-limbed deity. However as much gender politics in mythology starts to get under my skin these days, I’ll take any opportunity to participate in a fresh breath of culture specific, outdoorsy, family-and-friend friendly activity…especially since we’re the type of Hindus that spend Christmas Eve and Day watching Bond marathons on Spike TV until all the wassailing dies down. I’ll take any holiday I can get, thankyouverymuch 🙂
True, but is not a religious occasion in the south nor a family event. It’s mostly friends and organized events limited to the cities having a considerable number of north Indians.
well, Hiranyakashipu was a demon or daitya, and the Gods and demons were always fighting. AFter repeated attempts to kill Prahlad, the last one being with Holika, Holika, who had been granted the boon of being immune to fire by Brahma, took pity on her nephew and asked that her boon be transferred to him which is why he was saved. So it celebrates the selflessness of women and their innate recognition of the righteous? Just something I thought of at the spur of the moment. But it was also an opportunity for Vishnu to take on his avatar of Narsimha. See, Hiranyakashipu had been granted the boon after much tapasya that he could not be destroyed by man or beast, by day or by night, by any weapon, in the house or outside (yeah, he included the specifics in his wishes) and he became corrupt as as result of his supposed invincibility. He was killed by Narsimha – half man, half lion, who jumped out of a pillar on his threshold (neithe rin the house nor out), at twilight, with his claws, to save his devotee who worshipped him despite all odds. So it really is the triumph of good over evil and the restoration of the ruling of the worl dback to the gods (the gods and demonds were constantly fighting throughout the ages because BOTH are the children of Brahma’s children and sages and therefore, both heirs to the world)- as is evident in humanity today. So the night before Holi, teh fire is burned for Holika and grains and stuff thrown in it as product of the first harvest, and the next day every celebrates the crop and the hard work before by taking the day off and letting loose.
According to whom? I’m a Southie, and as far as I know, playfully throwing water balloons and colored powder at one another isn’t really our thing.
One can’t generalise saying its not our thing in south .In Andhra Pradesh(especially in telangana region including Hyderabad)its a big festival and huge holi celebration every year for telugu speaking people.For me Holi is a Hindu cultural festival more than religious ceremonies etc.It was fun during college days with bhang sweets/lassi etc.
Antahkarana:
point.
The whole wearing a white salwar for Holi came into fashion only after Amitabh and Rekha’s famous ‘Rang Barse’ song in Silsila.
so you dont really know the story .Atleast you can chechk wikipedia.
Like other Hindu festivals Holi celebrates victory of good over bad. And as everybody loves gender equality , so if we can celebrate death of a male(Ravan) , then we can celebrate death of a female also .
It does have a religious significance .Atleast as much as Deepawali has . Though it is true that nowadays Holi has turned into an opportunity to touch female body .
Ahh , everybody loves caste angle…
so here i go ..
we can divide four major Hindu festivals according to their Gunas.
1 : Rakshabandhan : It has Brahman Guna .Earlier Rakshabandhan was celebrated by Brahmans .This day they use to tie raksha sutra to the wrist of Kshatriyas for protection . Now it is celebrated as a festival to show love between brothers and sisters.(Which is originally Bhai duj )
2:Vijaydashmi (Dashhera) : It has Kshatriya guna .
3: Deepawali (Diwali) : It has Vaishaya guna .And more so nowadays when only people who make money during deevali are shopkeepers. for others it is deewala day
4 : Holi : it has Shudra guna . This is true nowadays . Guys seek opportunities to touch girls .And you can always say “Bura na maano holi hai “.
Naina,I generally enjoy your posts, but the undertones going on in this post are way out of line.
Well, this festival is celebrated by a major proportion of Hindu population of India, granted not so happening in South, but I think it is enough to be termed as a major hindu festival, just like “Pongal” 🙂
I seriously think you should have researched the story behind holi properly before making a comment like that which reeks of ignorance if not something worse. Holika is symbol of “evil” in the story and it just goes to signify the victory of good over evil. The fact that she is a women is incidental and not the main thing to be taken out of the mythology (Are you watching a lot of fox news lately?). And in any case, she was at least a “child abuser”, wasn’t she? But I guess in your opinion(an opinion i am sure not shared by many) all this is minor if you belong to the fairer sex. And if its just not women, then I guess you must be against Diwali too, are you?
Holi is a beautiful festival and it gives people a chance to bring informality and little color to dull and formal side of some relationships in life. A lot of people abuse it, but I guess so do people at the time of Halloween, doesn’t mean that it deserves to be thrashed like that.
I hope this was just a small blot in your otherwise great set of past and future writings.
Accidentally deleted the part in the post above about Pongal in which I say its even more then just a Hindu festival, but a major festival for tamilians of all religion and thus a major Indian festival!
Holi is a beautiful festival and it gives people a chance to bring informality and little color to dull and formal side of some relationships in life.
It is, definitely.
Also, Nihang Sikhs celebrate Hola Mohalla, a masculine form of Holi, and with a different twist
Holi is definitely, pan Indian, and brings lot of joy, and later throwing up in the gullis
The new mantra these days is ignorance = i’m a smart ass instead old one when ignorance was just bliss.
Vinay Lal should get his head checked for bringing “caste angle“
About Hola Mohalla
About Pongal
“One version of the tale tells of Prehlad’s father, Hiranyakshipu, an evil man who wanted Prehlad to worship him, not the Hindu god Vishnu. After many attempts to change his son’s mind, Hiranyakshipu decides to burn him to death, and his aunt, Holika, is to help. In the end, Holika is burned to death and Prehlad is saved.”
Haha, that’s the most simplistic, contextless, and misleading version of the story I’ve ever read. And the author is propagating the LA Times as a source for Hindu mythology!? Fantastic!
And I’m not even go into the “not where I come from, so it’s crap” attitude pervading the OP.
I’m starting to imagine what a skewed view of the religion growing up in America must give one, and it’s sad.
Yes, clearly Holika got burned because she was evil, not because she was a woman. That would be obvious except to the most strident of feminists (male or female).
I have been in Punjab during Holi/Hola Mohalla and it is amazing. For Holi, it’s mostly Hindus and urban Sikhs who do the colors, bhang etc. (rural Sikhs not so much). Hola Mohalla on the other hand is a hardcore rural Sikh festival (although obviously others also participate). The roads are lined with langar after langar…millions go to Anandpur Sahib…and very impressive feats of horseback riding, swordfighting, and other traditional military exercises. Nihangs all over the place. It’s truly a sight.
Holi is ENORMOUS in Uttar Pradesh, probably more there than any other state.
I just got back from India (Delhi) Sunday night…which was Holi day so I mostly spent it in flight. But I’ve heard it’s getting really crazy in Delhi now, with people throwing rocks, destroying property and cars, molesting women, etc. Sort of glad I missed it.
There is a holi song from the movie Delhii Heights which is huge in India right now but unfortunately I couldn’t find the video on youtube (yet).
Holi is rather like many medieval European festivals in its bacchanalia element + acceptance of status reversals and the loosening of inhibition. Plus the whole springtime fertility harvest thing. Sadly, it’s true that it’s also an opportunity for many men to molest women and girls in public places in the guise of putting rang on them.
Isn’t Indian = North Indian, for the most part, in the US? c.f. Indian restaurants.
I don’t mean this as flame bait, but I do think the dominant/most visible aspects of Indian culture in the US are North Indian (Punjabi/Gujarati/Delhi).
Badly Researched
Actually Holi is celebrated at the night before all the color and water festivities, where you have a bon fire thats lit and you have a pooja at the bon fire. The next day is called Dhulandi, is the day when you play holi with colors and water.
Naina, even though Holi may not be celebrated in the South, the STORY of Narsimha and Prahlad (including aunt Holika) is certainly well-known in the South.
But bottomline, most festivals today, whether Christmas/Halloween/Easter, or Holi/Diwali/Vaisakhi/Basant or other festivals from other religions/cultures (Eid?), are continuations/reinterpretations of much older, ‘folk’ traditions relating to harvests, fertility, renewal, and also what SP said in comment #24.
Doljatra(Dol) festival – the Bengali holi – celebrates the birthnight of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as well. One of the most radical and influential Bengalis ever, Shri Chaitanya reinvigorated the traditional festival to promote brotherhood among all classes of Bengalis. Now to add a little Bengali twist to the feminist subtext, Shri Chaitanya is supposed to be an avatar of Krishna in Radha mood and is even believed by some to be an incarnation of both Radha and Krishna simultaneously. Doljatra is also the biggest night for the Kartabhajas — a Boul sect — who, on Dol-night, worship Sati Ma, a god-woman and the founder lady of their order.
From the wiki on Holika:
Uncited, of course. Can anyone comment?
Upbhransh (#17):
I think it’s important to make the distinction between pan-_______ festival and major _______ festival.
There’s no question in my mind that Holi and Pongal are both major Indian festivals because so many Indians (and not just Indians, in the case of Pongal) celebrate them. However, I don’t think either of them is a pan-Indian festival since neither can be found in prevalence throughout India.
vivek
I have also heard this version . But people want logic. So it is more logical to believe that Brahama gave fireproof shawl than to believe that Brahama made Holika fireproof.
In general ,all hindu mythologies have many versions. You can believe in any one .
Vivek, I totally agree with you on the point that the there is a difference between a pan indian festival and a major indian festival and that is in a nutshell a very prime example of problems in our country.
But then the questions aries over what is exactly a pan indian holiday? Diwali? Do they celebrate it in far eastern regions? or Eid? Do they celebrate it in all the rural towns in central india with very high hindu or adivasi population? I think we got to agree on a threshold percentage here 🙂
Anyways my comment was based on presumption that she is commenting on the observation written in bold( It is considered a major Hindu festival.) and there was no “panning” there.
3 Chachaji “But there’s no denying that Holi, even if mainly in the North, has both an orgiastic element and an egalitarian element “
That’s exactly what holi was to those of us who grew up in India. Too young for orgies – and now I guess too old for it – it was the egalitarianism of holi that most excited us as kids. It was a big release from the overall strictness of Indian society. It was a day you could “attack” any chachaji or bhabiji with your pichkaris and rub abir all over their faces. There were worse things done but we won’t talk about it here. A hard day of playing holi was followed by a lot of good food which, at least in my part of North India, had to feature several meat dishes, further blurring any religious connotation this festival might have had . Bhang was drunk as “thandai,” somewhat like a colada, and also secretly incorporated in mithais to trick, and trip, the unsuspecting guest.
We do our own, more politically correct reenactment of an Indian holi down here in South Florida. Our holi picnic last Sunday attracted over 50 families and two van loads of my daughter’s friends from school. At the end of the day, my daughter’s non-desi friends begged us for a repeat invitation next year. They had boned up on holi through wikipedia, and were most amazed that any religion would allow people to celebrate a religious occasion like that. I told them that we had been confused about it ourselves.
Holi is a nice and colorful festival and should be celebrated all over India. I think it is catching up in the urban south, atleast the young kids fall for it. I remember the punishment I got in school along with a bunch of other friends (in my 10th standard / sophomore high equivalent(??) ) for having colors on my uniform and playing Holi even though strict instructions were given not to play Holi. We were actually provoked by a freshman “Malayali” girl (who was very attractive and very famous in school) who came to our class and sprayed the colors on her friend. That triggered the “What a shame, if a girl can disobey the orders”, why can’t we “spirit” in all the boys of our class”. “Colors” came out and it was all fun for some time until we all got hauled up for “punishment”. As usual, the girl who provoked was not punished.. Ofcourse the teachers’ logic was “girls can never indulge in such rowdy behavior”. 🙂
Well, Holi is fun, who cares about the reason?..
master vk (#31):
Yus, that’s true. I’ve heard the story of Hiranyakshipu and Narasimhan many times, but never about Holika or Prahlad. So I’m curious as to whether others are mostly familiar with the good Holika version or the bad Holika version…
Upbhransh (#32):
Ahh, I’m afraid this is where we disagree. Why make an effort to make festivals pan-Indian? These things are best left to spread organically; if there really must be spectacular displays of national unity, let’s leave those to August 15 and January 26 and leave the festivals alone to be enjoyed…
Floridian (#33):
Thash funny!
“A woman is burned alive to save her nephew — what a wonderful reason to celebrate!”
Only topped by the Muslim festival of Eid-ul-Adha (Qurbaani)to celebrate the schizophrenia of Abraham for attempting to kill his son Ismael as per the instructions of God.
I love it. I think it’s great how no one criticized the article for its undertones, only my post.
In case it wasn’t clear to anyone, my sarcasm was wholly directed at the LA Times article and its shoddy coverage — not at Holi or Hinduism. I’m sorry that I didn’t make that obvious enough for people. To assume that I’m insensitive towards Hinduism is pretty laughable. So I apologize if I offended anyone, again, it was only my intention to be critical of the article.
Upbhransh,
I don’t appreciate your sanctimonious undertones. What do you have to day about that? Is Naina being “anti-hindu”? I really wouldn’t answer that.
We have a new policy at SM. If you accuse or imply that any of us are anti-hindu, anti-muslim, anti-sikh, anti-christian, etc. you get banned. We don’t have time to read through and monitor garbage comments all day.
How can you have that story WITHOUT Prahlad?
Naina, that just means you are NEVER allowed to mention that people in India have occasionally been burned alive. You have to also mention all the people that haven’t been burned alive. There are quite a few in fact who haven’t. By being unbalanced I too think this was a poorly researched post.
my parents are from the south [madras] so holi wasn’t a big thing when i was growing up. but the more i heard about it, the more fun it sounded, and i thought that, perhaps, because if its liberal nature [bhaang, water-drenching, unnecessary touching] a holiday like holi had been rejected in parts of the south over the years? in any case, i just think it looks like a fun holiday and i would love to celebrate it, at least once, in india. also, if anybody is looking for a good [and lascivious] characterization of holi, vikram seth writes a great one in ‘a suitable boy.’
Huh. Well this explains why my mother in law couldn’t give me a brief synopsis of what Holi is.
It’s all good. I was born into a Greek Orthodox family and we dye eggs red and smash them for our Spring fertility right (Easter). I don’t have to be religious or really know the history to enjoy baking sweet bread, eating some eggs and making some tasty hot chocolate. Since I’m going to be doing some kind of Puja on Easter weekend I was thinking of initiating my Indian family into Eastern Orthodoxy — I’m sure it will go well:)
Skipped over it. Heard about the boon, that he created trouble, then that Narasimhan came down and killed him in accordance with the boon. The important part of the story as I heard it was how this guy tried to outwit the Gods and failed, not that he himself wanted to be treated as one.
I have always thought of holi as the Indian version of Mardi Gras – a religious connection that is tenuous at best but both a huge cultural expression with very deep social roots.
Any of you up on the North-South divide and why holi isn’t big in South India? Just curious.
“Southie” quite doesn’t cut it. It would be more accurate to say that Tamilians and Malyalees in TN & Kerala do not celebrate holi. Vast swaths of Andhra, Karnataka and Goa (the other three southie states) celebrate it.
I used to enjoy the festival in my childhood/youth, nowadays it’s become a field day for hooligans.
M. Nam
Tamilnadu celebrates something similar. During one of the days of pongal, the girls splash/douse water(mixed with turmeric) on guys they like. This happens mainly in villages, and it is fading away. And guys are not supposed to retaliate.
Its not sad. Its cool, secular and modernist. Yo
I love Holi. I love the color and total insanity that went with it. I remember celebrating it an entire day when I was a kid in India. Would start in the morning and over most of the day relatives would stream in or we’d visit families all dirty and colorful and eat lots of karanjis and besan ladoos oh yeah and srikhand poori as well. Personally for me the article doesn’t bother me. A little ignorant knowledge is acceptable. Holi is huge where I’m from in India and more than huge I love that it’s sort of an all encompassing celebration that doesn’t require anyone to check their religion or status at the door. It’s just fun like someone said a lot like St Paddy’s day. It brings a fun and colorful festival into the light for otherwise ignorant Americans because it’s a smaller celebration. Just as Diwali has become more known over the past few years, this is another celebration.
And sorry I didn’t get the scarcasm either. I just couldn’t understand why you were so offended by the article and it’s implications. I heard pretty much the same stories growing up and was just fine with them.
I guess the problem is that the LA Times’ take is closer to most people’s experience of Holi than your snark is. I mean you did kind of link Holi to traditions of female burning, which is pretty much guaranteed to piss people off. And does the fact that something is “just” a North Indian festival mean it’s not a “major” festival? You’re still talking about a population larger than most countries 🙂
I usually really enjoy your sarcastic, funny takes on news and pop culture. But this one seemed like kind of a reach to me.
ABDs being slightly confused about Holi, I can understand. What excuse do these people have? They have lumped dahi-handi / pot breaking (Krishna Janmashtami) w/ Holi.
BTW, Holi is celebrated in Nepal as well.