Research Paper About Holi Festival

DONG NAI UNIVERSITYFOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY Holi Traditional Festival in India.. Holi traditional festival in IndiaThesis statement Holi is one of major festivals in India which has many

DONG NAI UNIVERSITY

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FACULTY

Holi Traditional Festival in India

Group 4

Lam Thi Lien

Nguyen Thi My Linh

Vu Thi Ngoc Duyen

Nguyen Hoang Phuong Tram

Research writing

DHNNA03A

Instructor: Nguyen Van Nam, Ph.D

April, 2016

Holi traditional festival in India

Thesis statement Holi is one of major festivals in India which has many activities and influ-ence on social life of India and other countries

Outline

I The overview of Holi

A History of Holi

B Importance of Holi in India

1 Mythological significance

2 Cultural significance

3 Social significance

4 Biological significance

II The typical activities

A The activities before the festival

1 Holika dahan

2 Holika bonfire

B The activities during the festival

1 Play of colors

2 Other variety activities

C The activities after the festival

III Influences on social life of India and other countries

A In India

B In other countries

Holi is an ancient Hindu religious festival, also known as the festival of colors or the festival of sharing love (Gardner & Lal, 2012, pp 1403-1410)

Holi powder

Holi is one of major festivals in India which has many activities and influ-ence on social life of India and other countries This is the occasion which is expected most during the year of Indians, as well as other people of south Asian origin Holi is not only supposed that is the resplendent symbol of the end of conflicts, a day to forget and forgive and obliterate all unfortunate things in the previous year, but also illustrate the victory of good over evil Moreover, this festival also contains another humanistic mean-ing, when people throw and apply of colored water and powder on friends, family that no one complains anything about it, which expresses freedom and no class distinction exist

in society Let’s welcome this festival, there are lots of interesting and meaningful activi-ties which are celebrated during this festival Holi is always considered as spiritual cul-ture need to be remembered by Hinduism people This is an important occasion to remind them about the history of Holi Nowadays, Holi becomes popular in many countries such

as United Kingdom, United State, Malaysia, Fiji, Guyana, South Africa…

In 2009, Ghosh, SK, Bandyopadhyay, D, Chatterjee, G and Saha, D (pp 240-242) stated that Holi is also called as spring festival, is one of the most popular festi-val which is celebrated all over India and many countries every year Although Holli doesn’t has a fixed date in English calendar, the dates vary every year due to the fact that the Hindu calendar is based on solar cycles W, Crooke (1914) states that Holi is cele-brated at the end of the winter and the onset of spring, during the 3 or 4 days preceding the full moon day of the lunar month Phalguna According to the Hindus calendar, it

oc-curs in early March It also has recently been claimed (Gupta, D and Thappa, DM, 2015,

pp 3-5) that “Holi is a harvest festival in which people symbolically smear dry powdered colors (“Abeer” or “Gulal”) and spray water soluble colors on each other”

As Bowker, J (2000, p 248) reports that by the 17th century, various old editions of Oxford English Dictionary mention it, but with varying, phonetically derived

spellings: Houly (1687), Hooly (1698), Huli (1789),Hohlee (1809), Hoolee (1825), and Holi in editions published after 1910.

In India everyone celebrates Holi but there is a very few amount of people who exactly knows the reason behind its celebration and origin 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 was worshiped In India ev-eryone celebrates Holi but there is a very few amount of people who exactly knows the reason behind its celebration and origin Holi is an ancient festival of India, “Holi” origi-nated from “Holika”, with the literal meaning is burning There are various legends and mythologies to explain the meaning of this word, most prominent of all is the legend re-lated with demon King Hiranyakashipu According to Jackson (1976) and Bowker (2000) say that in days of yore, there was a demon king whose name is Hiranyakashipu or Har-nakas, winning all the realm of earth He was the King of Multan region He had found a godsend that made him virtually indestructible No one can break or destroy him because

of his position and power He was a turkey-cock and arrogant person so he asked every-body in his kingdom to venerate and worship only him as a God Nevertheless his son was Prahlada, who just believed in Lord Vishnu (also known as the avatar Rama) He ab-solutely disapproved what his father demanded King Hiranyakashipu was extremely

fu-rious at Prahlada’s attitude He found a variety of ways to punish his son, which the aim

is to change his devotional mind and make him worldly-minded, but unsuccessful be-cause Prahlada always was protected by Lord Vishnu Ultimately, with the assistance of Holika who was evil sister of King Hiranyakashipu, she used a method which was very cruel and malignant to kill her niece Ghosh, SK et al also report that Holika tricked Prahlada into together sitting on bale-fire When the fire burned out, Holika was wearing

an overcoat which could be against and prevent her from flaming fire However the coat suddenly moved from her to him, which protected Prahlada escape from death at the

hands of Holika He was not affected by the fire Simply because, she was not aware that

the boon worked only when she enters the fire alone As a result she was burnt to death

At the same time, Lord Vishnu appeared and killed King Harnakas After the fire had cooled down, people applied ash to their forehead To commemorate this event, even to-day, bonfires are lit on the night before Holi in memory of the event and burning of the evil Holika Connected to the legend of demon Hiranyakashipu Holi also is known as by the name of Kamadahana in South India, the day on which Holika was burnt by Lord Vishnu

Holi is one of the most vibrant festivals that are celebrated with huge en-thusiasm in the whole of India and it plays a vital role in Indian’s life It is a major festi-val that is celebrated with uncontrolled joy The fun and frolic that is associated with Holi

is incomparable with any other festival across the world Holi is celebrated as a mark of the arrival of spring season and therefore is a festival of gaiety that is celebrated with col-ors Thus, it is a celebration of relentless enthusiasm, joy and hope among people who cut across all sections of the society

According to Sivananda, S.S (1997), “All great Hindu festivals have reli-gious, social and hygienic elements in them Holi is no exception Every season has a fes-tival of its own Holi is the great spring fesfes-tival of India Being an agricultural country, India’s two big festivals come during the harvest time when the barns and granaries of our farmers are full and they have reason to enjoy the fruits of their hard labor The har-vest season is a festive season all over the world”

There are various mythologies significant about Holi festival in India Foremost is the legend of Prahlada and Hiranyakashipu As mentioned about this legend

above, from then on, Holi is a symbol of the victory of good over evil and also the

tri-umph of devotion As Jackson, R (1976) says that Holi is also celebrated in memory of the immortal love of Lord Krishna and Radha The young Krishna would complain to his mother Yashoda about why Radha was so fair and he so dark Yashoda advised him to apply color on Radha's face and see how her complexion would change In the legends of Krishna as a youth he is depicted playing all sorts of pranks with cowgirls One prank was to throw colored powder all over them So at Holi, images of Krishna and his consort Radha are often carried through the streets Holi is celebrated in the villages around Mathura, the birth-place of Krishna Another legend of Holi which is extremely popular

in Southern India is that of Lord Shiva and Kaamadeva According to the legend, people

in south celebrate the sacrifice of Lord of Passion Kaamadeva who risked his life to re-voke Lord Shiva from meditation and save the world (Gyan Rajhans, 2014) Also, popu-lar is the legend of Ogress Dhundhi who used to trouble children in the kingdom of Raghu and was ultimately chased away by the pranks of the children on the day of Holi

Showing their belief in the legend, children till date play pranks and hurl abuses at the time of Holika Dahan

There is a strong cultural belief of the people behind celebrating the holi festival Variety of legends behind celebrating this festival assures people to believe on the victory of power of truth over the evil People believe that their Supreme God always keeps his loved ones and true devotee under his big arms He never let them to get hurt

by the bad power Even, people worship Holika during the Holika Dahan to burn their all the sins and problems and in turn get a lot of happiness and good health Another cultural belief behind celebrating the Holi festival is, people celebrate Holi festival to express their joy and happiness while bringing new crops from their fields to home Celebration

of the various legends associated with Holi reassure the people of the power of the truth

as the moral of all these legends is the ultimate victory of good over evil The legend of Hiranyakashypu and Prahlada also points to the fact that extreme devotion to god pays as god always takes his true devotee in his shelter All these legends help the people to fol-low a good conduct in their lives and believe in the virtue of being truthful This is ex-tremely important in the modern day society when so many people resort to evil practices for small gains and torture one who is honest Holi helps the people to believe in the virtue of being truthful and honest and also to fight away the evil As Wendy Doniger (2000) states that the Holi festival has further cultural significance It is the festive day to end and rid oneself of past errors, to end conflicts by meeting others, a day to forget and forgive People pay or forgive debts, as well as deal anew with those in their lives Holi also marks the start of spring, and for many the start of the new year Besides, Holi is cel-ebrated at a time of the year when the fields are in full bloom and people are expecting a

good harvest This gives a people a good reason to rejoice, make merry and submerge themselves in the spirit of Holi People celebrate Holi so that they forget all their griev-ances and accusations against each other There are social events organized by different groups and people participate just to show their social involvements Women usually were forced to stay indoors and did not have much freedom in normal days They waited for festivals especially Holi to have some relaxed rules and enjoy a little bit of freedom in their lives Holi is celebrated to welcome the spring season and say good bye to winter Holi connects all people of India together Even the Indians who are living in other coun-tries play Holi and relive the wonderful and merrymaking moments

Holi festival has its own social significance as it brings a lot of happiness

to the people living in the society It brings people much closer to strengthen their bond

by removing all the problems This festival turns the enemies into lifelong friends as well

as removes all the differentiation of age, race and religion To show their love and affec-tion to each other, they share gifts, sweets and greetings cards to their relatives and friends This festival acts as a relationships revitalizing and strengthening tonic which binds each other into the great emotional bonds Holi helps to bring the society together and strengthen the secular fabric of India For, the festival is celebrated by non-Hindus also as everybody like to be a part of such a colorful and joyous festival Also, the tradi-tion of the Holi is that even the enemies turn friends on Holi and forget any feeling of hardship that may be present Besides, on this day people do not differentiate between the rich and poor and everybody celebrate the festival together with a spirit of bonhomie and brotherhood The social significance of Holi is seen in the form of the message of unity and brotherhood, it delivers As per the custom and tradition, people pay visits to their

friends and relatives, to give them wishes as well as to strengthen their bonds The festi-val brings the nation together, as it is not just celebrated by Hindus but, also by the Sikhs, Christians, Jain as well In March 1914, W, Croock states that in the festival, people visit friends and relatives and exchange gifts, sweets and greetings This helps in revealing re-lationships and strengthening emotional bonds between people The festival is unique, as

it does not discriminate against any section of the society and treats everyone equally The social fabric and secular character of the society is strengthened, since people work

on building cordial relations, forgiving their hard feelings for others

Apart from the cultural and social significance of the festival, Holi considerably affects the biological system of our body The time, at which Holi is celebrated, is very crucial with respect to our body During the festival, the season is going through a change - from winter to summer It is the period when people feel lethargic and drowsy Holi provides them the opportunity to wear off their laziness, by enjoying themselves thoroughly The dance performances and the music played during the festival rejuvenate the mind and soul The color, especially Abeer, penetrates the body and strengthens the ions, improv-ing health and beauty Durimprov-ing the tradition of Holika Dahan, people circumambulate around it the fire This ritual kills the bacteria in the body and makes it clean During Holi, people clean their houses and remove clutter, thereby ensuring flow of positive en-ergy Therefore, it can be said that apart from rejuvenating the social ties, Holi provides a wonderful opportunity to release all the tension and to fresh the mind

Holi festival has its own scientifically approved biological significance It has lots of beneficial effects on our body and mind as it brings lots of joy and fun The time of Holi celebration is estimated to be scientifically accurate It is celebrated at the

end of the winter season and start of the summer season when people feels lazy and tired naturally So, during this time Holi brings lots of activities and joy to counteract the tardi-ness of the body It rejuvenates the body by playing colors, eating delicious recipes and take blessings from the elders of the family At the festival of Holi, there is a tradition of Holika Dahan Scientifically it is to make the atmosphere safe and clean as winter and spring season provides the required environment for the growth of bacteria Holika Da-han process at various places in the society all over the country increases the environment temperature by 145 degree Fahrenheit which kills the bacteria and other harmful insects

At the same time people make round of the Holika known as the Parikrama which helps

in killing the bacteria on their body After completely burning of the Holika, people used

of applying the ash (also called as Vibhuti) on the forehead by mixing with the sandal paste or new mango leaves which helps in promoting their health Playing colors at this event also has its own benefits and significance It enhances the health of the body and mind There is a tradition of making the houses clean and clear in order to get rid of the spiders, mosquitoes or others insects as well as to drive some positive energies within the home environment

According to Sivananda, S.S (1997), the first day of festival (is called as Holi Purnima), People started gathering wood and other combustible materials for camp-fires in parks, community centers, temples nearest and other open spaces On the pyre is

an effigy symbolizing Holika, who had cheated on fire Prahalada In the house, the woman prepared to cook some typical meals of the holiday as Gujiya, Mathri, Malpuas and so on People also clean their house, remove all dirty articles from around the house