Holi 2019 - Holi Essay, When is Holi, Holi History, How To Celebrated Holi, Holi Video, Dj Song

Holi is a Hindu festival that celebrates the arrival of spring. The festival is celebrated over several days, usually in the second week of March. Holi is one of the most popular Hindu festivals, and it’s celebrated by people both young and old. From lighting the Holika bonfire to playing colors, to visiting with friends and family, Holi is a wonderful celebration to bring the community together and celebrate the triumph of good over evil.

When is Holi 2019?

Holi 2019 in Bihar will begin in the evening of

• Wednesday, 20 March 219

and ends in the evening of

• Thursday, 21 March 2019

Dates may vary.

The festival of Holi is celebrated on the day after the full moon in early March every year.

In 2019, Holi is listed as a holiday on March 21st in Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand.

Holi is also known in some states as Doljatra, or Dola Purnima and is a holiday in 2019 on March 21st in Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, West Bengal.

Holi Dj Song 2019

It is also a public holiday called Phagwah in Guyana and in 2019 it was declared a holiday in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

The day before Holi is known as Holi Dahan and can be a holiday in some states.

Holi History

Holi is an ancient festival of India and was originally known as 'Holika'. The festivals find a detailed description of early religious works such as Jaimini's Purvamimamsa-Sutras and Kathaka-Grhya-Sutras. Historians also believe that Holi was celebrated by all Aryans but more so in the Eastern part of India.

It is said that Holi existed several centuries before Christ. However, the meaning of the festival is believed to have changed over the years. Earlier it was a special rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was worshiped.

Calculating the Day of Holi

There are two ways of reckoning a lunar month- 'purnimanta' and 'Amanda'. In the former, the first day starts after the full moon; and in the latter, after the new moon. Though the amount reckoning is more common now, the purnimanta was very much in vogue in the earlier days.

According to this purnimanta reckoning, Phalguna Purnima was the last day of the year and the new year heralding the Vasanta-Ritu (with spring starting from the next day). Thus the full moon festival of Holika gradually became a festival of merrymaking, announcing the commencement of the spring season. This perhaps explains the other names of this festival - Vasanta-Mahotsava and Kama-Mahotsava.

Reference in Ancient Texts and Inscriptions
Besides having a detailed description in the Vedas and Puranas such as Narad Purana and Bhavishya Purana, the festival of Holi finds a mention in Jaimini Mimansa. A stone inscription belonging to 300 BC found at Ramgarh in the province of Vindhya has mention of Holikotsav on it. King Harsha, has mentioned Holi Utsav in his work Ratnavali that was written during the 7th century.

The famous Muslim tourist - Ulbaruni too has mentioned about Holi Utsav in his historical memories. Other Muslim writers of that period have mentioned, that Holi Utsav was not only celebrated by the Hindus but also by the Muslims.

Reference in Ancient Paintings and Murals
The festival of Holi also finds a reference in the sculptures on walls of old temples. A 16th-century panel sculpted in a temple at Hampi, capital of Vijayanagar, shows a joyous scene of Holi. The painting depicts a Prince and his Princess standing amidst maids waiting with syringes or pichkaris to drench the Royal couple in the colored water.

A 16th century Ahmednagar painting is on the theme of Vasanta Ragini - spring song or music. It shows a royal couple sitting on a grand swing, while maidens are playing music and spraying colors with pichkaris.

There are a lot of other paintings and murals in the temples of medieval India which provide a pictorial description of Holi. For instance, a Mewar painting (circa 1755) shows the Maharana with his courtiers. While the ruler is bestowing gifts on some people, a merry dance is on, and in the center is a tank filled with colored water. Also, a Bundi miniature shows a king seated on a tusker and from a balcony above some damsels are showering gulal (colored powders) on him.

Legends and Mythology

In some parts of India, especially in Bengal and Orissa, Holi Purnima is also celebrated as the birthday of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (A.D. 1486-1533). However, the literal meaning of the word 'Holi' is 'burning'. There are various legends to explain the meaning of this word, most prominent of all is the legend associated with demon king Hiranyakashyap.

Hiranyakashyap wanted everybody in his kingdom to worship only him but to his great disappointment, his son, Prahlad became an ardent devotee of Lord Narayana. Hiaranyakashyap commanded his sister, Holika to enter a blazing fire with Prahlad in her lap. Holika had a boon whereby she could enter fire without any damage on herself. However, she was not aware that the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone. As a result, she paid a price for her sinister desires, while Prahlad was saved by the grace of the god for his extreme devotion. The festival, therefore, celebrates the victory of good over evil and also the triumph of devotion.

Legend of Lord Krishna is also associated with play with colors as the Lord started the tradition of play with colors by applying color on his beloved Radha and other gopis. Gradually, the play gained popularity with the people and became a tradition.

There are also a few other legends associated with the festival - like the legend of Shiva and Kaamadeva and those of Ogress Dhundhi and Poona. All depict the triumph of good over evil - lending a philosophy to the festival.

How To Celebrated Holi 

Holi is marked by colorful parades accompanied by folk songs, dances and a general sense of relaxed fun.

Nowadays Holi is an excuse for young Indians to shed their inhibitions and caste differences for a day of fun. Teenagers spend the day flirting and misbehaving in the streets, and everyone chases everyone else around, throwing brightly colored powder and water over each other.

The tradition of throwing brightly coloured powder and water is said to come from the love story between two Hindu gods, Radha and Krishna. Krishna is famously depicted as having bright blue skin and the legend has it that he was sad he didn't have a fair complexion like Radha. He told his mother about this and she suggested that instead of wishing for fair skin, he should instead smear Radha with paint, so they both have coloured skin; hence the tradition of trying to 'colour' others as a sign of affection at Holi.

The main colours of the powders have symbolic meanings. Blue represents Krishna, Red represents love and fertility, green symbolises spring and new growth and yellow is the colour of turmeric, a spice native to India and a natural remedy.

The festival begins on the night of the full moon. Fires are lit on street corners to cleanse the air of evil spirits and bad vibes, and to symbolize the destruction of the wicked Holika, after whom the festival was named.

The following morning, the streets fill with people running, shouting, giggling and splashing.

Doljatra

In 2019, Assam, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana, West Bengal celebrate Doljatra. Also known as Dola Purnima, Dolyatra or Dol-Jatra, it is essentially the same festival as Holi, but has added emphasis as it is the last festival of the Bengali year.

Holi Festival Essay

Colors, gujiyas, and fun...I love Holi so much
Holi happens to be my favorite festival. I particularly enjoy the color part of it. I keep stocks of every color but red happens to be my favorite. The other ones especially, the purple is one I hate to use on Holi. It never goes and makes one look so bad.

I also enjoy preparing gujiyas with my mother and sisters. My mother keeps frying them in the pan, while we sisters do the rolling, cutting and filling part of it. My favorite job is to do the filling which gives me a chance to keep stealing the tasty khoya which is full of dry fruits. Eating the gujiyas - piping hot just as they come out of the pan is the other most cherished moment of the festival.

I also take care to keep my preparation for the festival ready. Like choose some old and faded jeans and a shirt I am bored off besides taking care of the oiling and creaming part of it. Otherwise, the aftermath of the Holi festival could be extremely tiresome.

I have also had a bad experience after Holi once when I got so much engrossed in playing with the color that I became too late to get a bath and the water tank got exhausted. I had to wait for hours drenched in the water before the water supply was restored. It was a very painful lesson that I learned - take a bath on time.

I particularly enjoy the festival in the company of friends and relatives, i.e. when there are lot of people to be colored. The excitement is unmatched when everybody loves the festival as much as you do.
- Krishna Kumar

A memorable Holi
Oh, what fun we had on the Holi that year. The tradition followed was digging the lawn generating some mud, throwing some buckets of water and then the prey. So, it was a very earthy kind of Holi that we played that year in the hostel. The good part was that the prey was asked to get the buckets herself.

Then everybody decided that we have grown up enough to have our first dose of bhang. A thandai was prepared, somebody had stored a little milk from the morning breakfast. There was one very enthusiastic girl who sneaked in the maximum share. High on the spirit of the festival, we had the mandatory dance on the Rang Barse bheege chunar wali...

Meanwhile, one who stole maximum share sat under the sun and started waiting for the bhang to give her some kick. She kept cribbing for about half an hour..nothing is happening..nothing is happening...

After some time she suddenly started laughing and did not stop even after repeated attempts to stop her from doing so. Her body started aching but she could not control her laughter. Then all of a sudden she started crying and then again could not stop... She got the kind of high she never expected.

Although I can't remember her name, I can't forget what fun we had at her expense. I owe a big thank you to her for making that Holi so memorable in my life.
- Krishna Kumar

Holi-The festival of love and joy

Holi is a festival of colours which generally falls on a full moon in March.. It is also a festival of love and unity and celebrates the triumph of good over evil. The festival is celebrated with lot of pomp in north India.

Holi is celebrated with vibrant colours - these colour are actually colours of joy, colours of love and colours that fill our life with happiness to the core of our hearts. It adorns each life with its various hues.

There are many legends given as the reasons for celebrating Holi. Long ago there was a king named Hiranyakashyapu, he had a son, Prahlad - a holy spirit and highly devoted to God. But Prahlad's devotion enraged Hiranyakashyapu and he planned to kill his own son. He asked her sister Holika, who was immune to fire, to sit in fire taking Prahlad in her lap. Fortunately, Prahlad, who was blessed by Lord, was saved and Holika was burnt to ashes. This gave birth to the festival of Holi.

Another legend speaks of the everlasting love between Radha and Krishna. The legend is celebrated with great pomp and show.

All hearts are lighted with glory and people everywhere enjoy their near and dear ones with different colors. People also throw water balloons on each other and on passer-by too. Many are also drenched in the colored water. Hours pass by throwing colors on each other and it seems as if it's just the start of the day.

It's a festival of gaiety but then there are few who make this festival, a festival of evil. They do this by infuriating the strangers by forcefully throwing colors on them; some use colors that are difficult to remove and unsafe for skin and health. Many take it as a day of drinking alcohol but we should not forget that Holi is a festival of a triumph of good over evil. We must try to wash away all the evils in our hearts along with the colors and allow the color of love to stay there forever and ever. This is the true spirit of Holi.
- Krishna Kumar

Time for renewal

Holi is a time to rejuvenate. The significance of the Holi festival has crossed many pages in history to arrive here, as a time to celebrate renewal. Every festival has its own traditions in the backdrop, but what really matters is the spirit of festivity.

Colors speak louder than words at times. Holi goes beyond the custom of smearing colors on each other. It crosses the realm of traditional customs to reach new dimensions of the renewal and spirit. It's time to create new bonds, reach out to others and forget the past worries.

Every year I embrace the occasion with growing enthusiasm that bridges over my colorful childhood memories, to reach me today, as a festival to celebrate. Besides exchanging sweets, colors, and well-wishes, there is something more to it that I adore; It is the spirit of unity, friendship and a will to forget the past and let the present take over our lives. This is what makes it my favorite festival.

Holi Video Song 2019