Skip to main content

Holika Dhahan



There is March already, we have some festival coming in next few days. Today here at Maharastra we celebrate a festival "Holika". And tomorrow it is Festival of Holi (Festival of colors). Although Holi is becoming very popular festival internationally and many people visit India just to enjoy holi, this post is not about Holi but its about Holika. Note the difference in the name.

I feel that all Indian festivals are designed so that people in society should gather and mix up with each other. Good news is its holiday tomorrow and its a long weekend. After long time I will be celebrating Holika. It is very interesting festival. Like all other Hindu festivals, it is about victory of good over bad. This time it is about victory of good within over the evil within us. On internet there are many stories how Holika started and so I will not discuss it here.

Indians believe that fire is pure. It burns evil and what remains is pure. Anything that survives fire is pure. We all know story of Sita from Ramayana. So during Holika, we set stack of cow dung cakes. In the evening many people from society gathers at one place, do the puja/archana and burn it. There is tradition of running around the fire and shout loudly. Shouting symbolize that if we have some complaints about something or somebody we say it and burn it, clear our mind for everybody and start over again. When I was kid, I and my cousins use to enjoy it so much. Its a official day for shouting and playing with fire. What else kids want. 😃 And there use to be a "Timki". It is a sort of drum specially made for Holika dhahan. During childhood we use to buy it and beat it like anything. We use to beat till either it breaks or till somebody use to shout us for the noise. This is the thing I really like.  Wow, I really miss those days. And this does not end here. There use to be sweet Chapati, Puran poli. Puran poli is sweet made specially on Holika. Many people in India don't know about this sweet food. I feel really sorry for them. They don't know what they are missing. My mother cooks it so well. She is the master in it. And guess what, she is here today and I am having it today. 

Today, Holika dhahan is performed at many places but the tradition is reducing. As far as environment is concerned it is better to keep it at low because Holika dahan causes pollution. So we need to create a balance. We want both. Traditional festivals should be alive and also environment should not get polluted. After-all life is about balance. I will try to upload photos if possible, till then enjoy..Happy Holika.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Three things I Like About Chennai

I am living in Chennai for about six months now and I was thinking what are the good thing I like about Chennai. Few things quickly popped in my mind. I am mentioning them here.  I. People are sincere about their work I will call Chennaikars to people of Chennai, who are living in Chennai irrespective of their age, gender, native place, language etc. I feel Chennaikars are much sincere about their work. It doesn’t matter what work they do. May it be engineers, doctors, any other workers. It can be observed easily when we go to any shop, tea stall, hotel etc. Just to give example, I happened to go to two different doctors few months back.  At the first doctor's place we paid consultation fees, after consultation doctor found that there is nothing wrong. So he asked reception to return money. This was new experience to me. At other time, at other doctor’s place, when doctor found patient is not cured by his medicine, he gave free consultation and medicines next t...
2 comments
Read more

Reaching Stockholm

Wow  this year I am already starting for another country after Perth. In Europe after three years...to Stockholm Sweden. I hope everything will be great at work and other. Good news is I don't have to start from Mumbai. I can take flight to Stockholm from Pune via Delhi. I recently heard that Pune airport stands at 9th rank in service. Well I like the service. People/staff was helpful. All sign boards were at place. Good job Pune. Delhi airport I must say is great. It is neat and clean. It is huge. It looks like airport of India's capital.  I have seen some airports in the world and in India and I can say this is one of the best airports. Our flight took path over Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Russia, Estonia and so on. We always hear about Afghanistan many news. While I was in school I learnt about Afghanistan how it has difficult terrain with just mountains. I was able to witness it this time. For many hundreds of kilometers I was just able to see dry Rocky ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Weekend at Pondicherry

Few days ago I went to Pondicherry or Puducherry with family. It was French colony before Independence. Pondicherry is at about 160 kms from Chennai. It is favorite trip destination for various reasons. There are some beautiful beaches, rocky beaches. You can buy any brand of bear, whiskey, vodka etc. at cheaper rates. In Chennai you won't get all brands as it's restricted by state government. So many people go for enjoying hard drinks. Pondicherry still have French flavor in its life. The old buildings have French architectural touch. Policeman caps resembles that with French police. Even some Church resemble with saint Notre Dame at Paris. I stayed at Green Palace hotel. It was really great place to stay. They have studied French hotels very well. I received all the services that I use to get in Paris. Resemblance is astonishing. At approximately 2kms from hotel there is a very good Rock beach. The place is great. There is a road parallel to the beach where you can ta...
1 comment
Read more