Celebrations around the world mark spring’s advent
Observers around the world on Friday celebrated Holi, the springtime Festival of Colors with Hindu origins, which marks the season’s arrival and good’s triumph over evil.
Holi is named after Holika, the demoness aunt of a king’s disloyal son in one of the festival’s source myths, according to holifestival.org. In that story, King Hiranyakshyap grows frustrated and jealous enough at his son’s worship of Lord Naarayana that the king asks his sister de el Holika to sit in a fire with his son de ella, Prahlad, in her lap de ella.
Holika does so and burns to death while Prahlad—who chants the name of Lord Naarayana—emerges unharmed as Naarayana’s reward for his unyielding devotion. Effigies of Holika burnt throughout the holiday reference this myth.
Children place there near a large effigy of the demon Holika to be burnt on the eve of Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, March 17, 2022. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images)
The ritual of throwing colored powder, traditionally known as gulaland water is rooted in the legend of Radha and Krishna.
In that tale, a young Krishna, the Hindu god of protection, compassion, tenderness and love, doused Radha — the other half of his soul — with colors on her face out of jealousy for her fair complexion.
Krishna’s mom suggests the prank when he whines to her about nature’s injustice—an Ogress named Pootana attempted to kill Krishna as an infant with poisoned milk that stained him blue thereafter—and he abides.
Nowadays, friends, lovers, neighbors and relatives splash each other to express their affection.
A vendor selling colored powder for the upcoming Hindu festival Holi awaits customers at Sadar Bazaar market in the old quarters of New Delhi, India, on Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (Photo by Xavier Galiana/AFP via Getty Images) A reveler smeared in colored powder celebrates the Hindu spring festival of Holi in Mumbai, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images) People dancing under running water celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in Hyderabad, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.) Devotees are doused in colored powder and water during celebrations marking Holi at the Kalupur Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) Devotees toss colored powders and flower petals during celebrations marking Holi at the Swaminarayan temple and Lord Jagannath temple in Ahmedabad, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki) A reveler smeared in colored powder celebrates the Hindu spring festival of Holi in Mumbai, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP via Getty Images) Youths smeared in colored powder and dressed as Lord Krishna, left, and deity Radha celebrate the Holi festival in Kolkata, India, on Thursday, March 17, 2022. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP via Getty Images) Revelers hold a statue of Lord Krishna as they celebrate the Hindu spring festival of Holi outside a temple in Howrah district, near Kolkata on Friday, March 18, 2022. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP via Getty Images) A boy smears the face of a young Sikh boy with colored powder on Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in New Delhi, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) A boy pours a bucket of colored water on a pedestrian on Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, in New Delhi, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) People celebrate Holi, the Hindu festival of colors, on a street in New Delhi, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Altaf Qadri) A widow smeared with gulal, or colored powder, sits at a temple as she participates in Holi celebrations, the Hindu spring festival of colors, in Vrindavan, India, on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. (Photo by Money Sharma/AFP via Getty Images) A devotee throws colored powder toward the ceremonial bamboo pole known as a ‘Chir’, fringed with strips of cloth representing good luck charms, to mark the beginning of Holi at Basantapur Durbar Square in Kathmandu, India, on Thursday, March 10, 2022. (Photo by Prakash Mathema/AFP via Getty Images) People smear colored powder on a boy as they celebrate Holi in Jammu, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Channi Anand) A girl on a scooter drizzles passersby in snow spray on Holi in Jammu, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Channi Anand) People celebrate Holi in Jammu, India, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Channi Anand) People celebrate Holi in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) People celebrate Holi in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, on Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh) People from the Pakistani Hindu community celebrate Holi, the festival of colors, in Lahore, Pakistan, Friday, March 18, 2022. (AP Photo/KM Chaudary)
