Today The Hindu ‘festival of colors’, Holi, is celebrated in many parts of the world. Holi was originally a festival to celebrate the start of Spring, good harvests and fertility of the land. The first mentions of it date back to a poem from the 4th century.
Today it is better known as a symbolic commemoration of a legend from Hindu Mythology. The story is that there was once a king who resented his son, Prince Prahlada, worshiping Lord Vishnu. He tries to murder the prince on several occasions but fails each time.
Finally, the king’s sister Holika who is said to be immune to burning sits with the boy inside a fire. However, the prince emerges unhurt, while his aunt burns in the fire and dies. Huge bonfires are burnt on the eve of Holi as a symbolic representation of Holika’s cremation.
The tradition of throwing brightly colored powder and water is said to come from the love story between two Hindu gods, Radha and Krishna. Krishna is famously depicted as having bright blue skin and the legend has it that he was sad he didn’t have a fair complexion like Radha. He told his mother about this and she suggested that instead of wishing for fair skin, he should instead smear Radha with paint, so they both have coloured skin; hence the tradition of trying to ‘color’ others as a sign of affection at Holi.
Bad day for someone…
Looks pretty suspicious…
Another reason to stop smoking…
Today is the birthday, in 1945, of James O’Rourke, guitarist and singer with John Fred & His Playboy Band who scored the 1968 US No.1 & UK No.3 single ‘Judy In Disguise’. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaWaQBxc0aI
