Holī

When it falls

The full moon of Phālguna, in late February or March. The bonfire (Holikā Dahan) burns on the full-moon night; the colours fly the following morning.

The Phala almanac gives the exact day for your own city; the lunar and solar rules above are what it computes from.

The story

The demon king Hiraṇyakaśipu could not bear that his son Prahlāda worshipped Viṣṇu. His sister Holikā had a boon that fire could not touch her, so she sat in a pyre with the boy on her lap. The boon held only when she entered fire alone: she burned, Prahlāda walked out unharmed, and the bonfire is hers.

The colours are Kṛṣṇa's. Dark-skinned and jealous of fair Rādhā, he was told by his mother to colour her face whatever he liked, and the villages of Braj have thrown colour at one another ever since. At Barsānā the women drive the men of Nandgaon away with sticks (Lāṭhmār Holī) a week before the rest of India begins.

For one morning the ordinary lines of caste, age, sex and rank do not hold; anyone may colour anyone. Burā na māno, Holī hai: don't mind, it's Holī.

How the day is kept

• The bonfire is lit after dark on the full moon, with grain and coconut thrown in and a circuit walked around it.
• Next morning is Raṅgwālī Holī: dry colour (gulāl), coloured water from buckets and syringes (pichkārī), and drums in the street until noon.
• Bengal keeps the day as Dol Jātrā, with images of Kṛṣṇa and Rādhā carried on a swing; Odisha and Manipur have their own forms.
• The afternoon is for bathing, new clothes, and visiting; the greeting is a smear of colour on the forehead.

At the table

Gujiyā, the fried crescent stuffed with khoyā and dried fruit, and ṭhaṇḍāī, the cold milk drink with almonds, fennel and rose that is sometimes laced with bhāng (cannabis paste).

More spring and the seasons