This year Holi is celebrated on Tuesday, the 10th March 2020. The Holika Dahan is on Monday, the 9th March 2020. The timings are as follows.
Purnima Tithi Begins – 03:03 AM on 09th Mar 2020
Purnima Tithi Ends – 11:17 PM on 09th Mar 2020
PURPOSE OF HOLI
The main purpose of Holi in modern society is to support to end of the evil and victory of the good. Festival discourages people towards evil practices for small gains and selfish motives. Holi comes at the time of year when fields are in full bloom and people are expecting a good harvest giving them a good reason to rejoice and to make cheerful. The celebration in various parts of the country, the Holi reassures the people of the power of the truth. The moral is that the good ultimately triumphs over evil. This is the festival where youngers and next generation are encouraged to follow good conduct and to believe in as honesty is the only policy. The spirit of Holi further spread awareness among the people to stick to truthfulness to fight away the evil. Holi is also known as the festival of love. Hindus believe it is a time to say farewell to winter and to enjoy spring. By tradition, it was identified as a festival that celebrated agriculture and commemorated good harvests. The day is observed as a time to rid oneself from erroneous memories, conflicts, disputes. Further, the day is considered to be new beginning afresh and forgive and to renew shattered relationships.
HISTORY BEHIND HOLI CELEBRATION
There is a famous story for Holi. The story of Hiranyakashipu, Holika and Prahlada. The Holi has come from the name Holika. The Hiranyakashipu wanted to take revenge for the death of his younger brother who was killed by Lord Vishnu. He prayed for years to gain power. He was finally granted a blessing, that made him virtually Imperishable. But this made him feel like God and asked his people to worship him like God. However, the cruel king had a son Prahlad, who was a great devotee of Lord Vishnu. Prahalad had kept on worshiping Lord Vishnu. The King was to kill his own son because he refused to worship Hiranyakashipu. He asked his sister ‘Holika’, who cannot be burnt by fire, to sit on fire with Prahlada in her lap. As a result, they plan to burn Prahalad. Holika was wearing a shawl that protects from burnt by fire, while Prahlada was not. As the fire al around, the shawl flew from Holika and wrapped Prahlada as he was praying Lord Vishnu. This resulted in Holika burnt. Prahlada got survived. Lord Vishnu immediately appeared and killed Hiranyakashipu. The burnt of Holika signifies the victory of good over evil.
ASTROLOGICAL CONNECTION
According to Astrology and Astrobollywood, the strong belief that the positive changes are probable if the right colors are used during the Holi celebrations. Every Zodiac sign has got an appropriate color which are specified below. The usage of right color will support the horoscope to benefit you on several matters. The colors would have greater effect on personality, spirituality, physical energy and mental ability. The devotion and dedication to the Holy festival as per the rituals, would bring fortune, harmony and wealth. It would extremely supportive if we celebrate together with family and friends. The Astrobollywood further suggests it would help achieving missing essentials in your horoscope such as luck and turning the stride to your side. We would like to suggest the colors as mentioned below.
Aries: The suggested colors are red, green and pink. This would support to increase your self-confidence and personality. Also help you keeping energized to work hard.
Taurus: The suggested colors are blue, green and deep pink. This would keep you away from enemies and help you getting positive vibes whole year.
Gemini: The suggested colors are yellow, grey, silver and white. This Holi will help you in achieving financial targets and keep you bold.
Cancer: The suggested colors are blue, silver and yellow. This Holi will keep you enthusiastic and energized throughout the year.
Leo: The suggested colors are gold, red and dark yellow. This Holi help you and ensure good luck and fortune this year.
Virgo: The suggested colors are brown, blue, Yellow and green. This Holi will help you raise in your income and also help you get good job offers.
Libra: The suggested colors are violet, blue and white. This Holi help them keep cool and attaining long-pending financial returns.
Scorpio: The suggested colors are red and green. This Holi help them removing hurdles on their way and regaining old friendship.
Sagittarius: The suggested colors are purple, Indigo and pink. This Holi will help them maintain good reputation in office and in the society.
Capricorn: The suggested colors are Black and Brown. This Holi will make your image better and help you maintain pleasant always.
Aquarius: The suggested colors are red, green, white, pink. This Holi would bring happiness and enthusiasm.
Pisces: The suggested colors are green, purple and yellow. This Holi would enable to control over anger and enhance your patience. The strict followers of the color combination would really see the differences in their life entire year.
CELEBRATION IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF INDIA
Bihar:
Holi has got a significant and played enthusiastically in every part of Bihar. This has immensely has an important role among festivities. On the evening of Phalgun Poornima, people light up the Holika bonfire and put many old things into the fire to get rid of their old problems and evil spirits. They consider this an occasion to end their conflicts with others and apply colors by meeting each other. Holi is played here with colors, water, water-balloons, and folk songs. Usually, the state witnesses two days celebration. Every household sees the preparation of various delicacies and a lot more. The ‘Bhaang’ is most popular and served with other sweet dishes.
Gujarat:
In Gujarat, Holi is celebrated for two days. On the evening of first-day people lit the bonfire and offer raw coconut and corn to it. The second day is ‘Dhuleti’ or the festival of color in which people sprinkle colored water and apply colors to each other. Dwarka, the famous coastal city of Gujarat celebrates Holi at the Dwarkadheesh temple with music festivities and comedy programs. Celebrated in the month of Phalguna, Holi symbolize the agricultural season of the Rabi crop. In the western region, Ahmedabad, a pot of buttermilk is hung on the streets and young boys try to reach it and break it by making human pyramids, while girls try to stop them by throwing colored water on them.
Uttar Pradesh:
There is a weeklong celebration in Uttar Pradesh. Barsana, a small town close to Mathura in the Braj region celebrates one-of-its-kind, ‘Lath Mar Holi’ in the compound of the Radha Rani Temple. Thousands of people gather there to witness this Holi when women beat up men with sticks (lath) as those on the sidelines become hysterical, sing popular Holi Songs and shouts Chants, Sri Radhey or Sri Krishna. Outside, Braj region, in Kanpur, Holi lasts for seven days with color. The last day is commemorated with a grand fair called Ganga Mela or the Holi Mela. In Gorakhpur, the northeast district of UP, Holi day begins with a special pooja. Here, this day is considered to be the most colorful day of the year for promoting the brotherhood among the people. In fact, they celebrate it as the “Holi Milan”, during which people visit every house, sing Holi songs and express their love for each other by applying colors called abeer.
Uttarakhand:
The Holi is called as Kumaon in Uttarakhand and is a majorly known as celebration filled with music rather than colorful like other states. Here, this festival takes different forms like the Khari Holi, the Baithki Holi, and the Mahila Holi. In the Khari Holi and Baithki Holi, people sing songs with a touch of melody, spiritualism and fun. The songs are based on classical ragas. In the Kumaon region, the Holika a ceremony known as Cheer Bandhan 15 days before Dulhendi. The colours used on Holi are derived from natural sources. Dulhendi, known as Charadi is made from flower extracts, ash and water.
Maharashtra:
The Maharashtra Holi is the most exciting and interesting festival. The festival is celebrated after the sunset by burning Holika that symbolizes the victory of good over evil. People create some unusual sound through their mouth and hands. The next day is Phalgun Krushnapaksh Panchami, which is called as ‘Rangpachami’. People apply color, gulaal and water on each other on this day. ‘Puran Poli’ is a must-try here on the eve of Holi. The festival is very popular among the fisher folk as they rejoice the festival it by singing, dancing and cooking tasty delicacies.
Wesh Bengal:
Holi is referred as “Dol Purnima”, “Dol Jatra” or the “Swing Festival” in West Bengal. Here, this festival is celebrated in a bit dignified manner by placing the icons of Radha and Krishna and later taken round in the main streets of the city or the village. On the Dol Purnima, the devotees take turns to swing them while women dance around the swing and sing devotional songs. During these activities, the men keep drenching colored water and colored powder, Abeer, at them. Also, the head of the family observes a fast and prays to Lord Krishna and Agnidev and once the rituals are over, he offers “bhog” to both Krishna and Agnidev praying for the goodwill. Get your monthly / Free Annual Horoscope 2020