~ Mahvish Qureshi ’10
While we may be bearing the cold winds and the accumulation of snow, other parts of the world are getting ready to mark the beginning of spring. In many South-east Asian countries Holi, the spring festival of colors will be celebrated on March 1st and continue on until Rangapanchani which will mark the end of the celebration. Holi is traditionally celebrated by people playfully throwing colored powder, and water at each other in celebration of the beginning of spring and all the colors it will bring with it. Traditionally a bonfire is also lit to mark the religious importance of this celebration.
The myth says that Hiranyakashipu, the king of demons, had ordered everyone to worship him and to forget the gods. His son, however, like most rebellious children, strayed away from the path prescribed by his father, and was devoted to praying to the god Vishnu. His father tried as he might to stop his son’s worship. He even tried to poison him; however, all of Hirayakashipu’s attempts to kill his son, Prahlad, were thwarted by the great god Vishnu. Hiranyakipshu had on one occasion ordered his daughter Holika to start a fire and to lead Prahlad into the fire so that he would burn, while Holika would be immune to the flames. Vishnu was able to thwart this murder attempt and Holika burned in the flames instead. Bonfires are lit during Holi to mark the celebration of the burning of Holika and the survival of Prahlad as well as show the strength of the god Vishnu.
While this may seem to be only fun and games there has been a medicinal benefit associated with this celebration as well. The powdered colors which are thrown around during Holi are made from neem, haldi, kumkum, and other medicinal herbs. During the time of weather change from winter to spring, having a few of these medicinal herbs flying around the air could only be a benefit to the majority of people who would easily fall sick during this time.
Even though the groundhog may have predicted a few more weeks of winter for us it’s nice to know that soon we will be basking in all the colors of spring time much like the people in South Asia who will be playing with the colors of spring this weekend.